


Holding Onto Happiness

by wow_dood



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Crying, Fluff, Gay, I don't have the heart to have that much angst, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-01-26 12:49:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 24,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21374419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wow_dood/pseuds/wow_dood
Summary: When Lucy moves to a new school, she doesn't expect to make many friends. She certainly didn't expect to be thrown into a whirlwind of friendships and romance. But when friends are family, what could possibly go wrong?Currently being rewritten.
Relationships: Gray Fullbuster/Lyon Vastia, Jellal Fernandes/Erza Scarlet, Laxus Dreyar/Freed Justine, Lucy Heartfilia/Loke, Mirajane Strauss/Aquarius, Natsu Dragneel/Lisanna Strauss, Romeo Conbolt/Wendy Marvell
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	1. Lucy and Natsu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy worries and Natsu fumes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be able to write for multiple characters in the same time frame, most chapters have two or more perspectives. 
> 
> Rewritten Chapter

Lucy was sitting on the edge of her bed. She didn’t quite know how to feel. On the one hand, she was happy that she was finally out of her previous school and making a new start. On the other hand, Lucy had never been great at making new starts. Her instinct was to lash out whenever something didn’t go the way it was supposed to. That usually made a bad first impression on people. People would avoid her for most of the year until it was over and her father inevitably got a new job, meaning they had to move to another town, starting the whole terribly embarrassing cycle over again. Needless to say, she wasn’t exactly _ thrilled _to start at a new school.

Her aunt had visited the second week they were in Magnolia, the town Lucy’s father had whisked them off to. It was early June then. Her father left as soon as he saw the car pull into the driveway. Her aunt was related to her maternally, and Lucy had overheard her father say that her aunt looked too much like Lucy’s mother, his wife. Her death was what triggered the start of cross-country travelling to different towns, almost a decade ago. The decade-long trip that he dragged his only child on with him.

When Lucy was younger, a few years after her mother died, she had asked her aunt why her father made them move yearly. Her aunt had said something along the lines of he was always trying to outrun the grief of losing the only person he ever loved more than himself. That he never gave himself time to mourn, and it was slowly destroying him. She got a sad look on her face on that, a look that Lucy had never seen before. Lucy could never bring herself to ask her aunt what that meant, for fear that she would make her feel like that again. She knew that her father would never entertain a question from her, especially such a personal one, so she had to content herself with not knowing. Once she got older and started to understand, it made her resent her father more. She had gotten over her mother’s death, so why couldn’t he? Then she would feel guilty for thinking that, and would feel bad for him. And then he would inevitably move them, and the cycle would repeat. She was _ beyond _ready to turn eighteen so she could finally settle down without severing all ties with him. So it was probably for the best that he wasn’t home much.

When her father left the house, Lucy raced down the stairs to greet her aunt at the doorway. Her aunt gave her a big hug and gave her a “late birthday present”. They both sat down at the dining table and Lucy excitedly unwrapped the present. It was the newest installment in the book series that she and her aunt had been keeping up on since the first book. She couldn’t wait to start it.

For some reason, she hadn’t gotten around to reading it before her aunt left. After she left, Lucy hadn’t really had that much motivation to start it. However, as Lucy stares at a blank wall in her room, recalling all of this, she decided that there was no better time than the present to start. She figured it would be a good way to distract her. And it worked for about ten minutes. Until she caught herself reading the same paragraph over and over again. After catching herself doing this several more times, she was done.

“That’s it, I need something else,” she said to herself, standing up and putting her book back on the nightstand, where it originally was. Luckily, her father wasn’t home, so she had no difficulty sneaking off and going on a nighttime walk. If she had a clearer mindset, she would've known that going on a walk in almost complete darkness in a new neighborhood. She wasn’t exactly being _ smart. _

She walked in circles for about an hour or so until she had calmed down enough to head home. About halfway home she approached two shady-looking people. One of them rammed their shoulder into her as they passed, to the point where Lucy almost fell to the ground. They both looked back and glared at her. A terrifying chill went down her spine and suddenly anywhere but there seemed like a much better place to be. She sped all the way back to her street and as she turned the corner, she stopped dead in her tracks.

The house’s lights were on, and her father’s car was in the driveway, meaning he was home and knew that she wasn’t.

_ Crap. _

* * *

Natsu was absolutely fuming. He hadn’t seen Gray all summer. He just so happened to pass by him on his way home for the day, and he wanted to have a nice conversation with him. But that _ ice princess _decided to walk right past him. Completely ignoring him.

Natsu didn’t consider himself to be a petty person. He had heard other people call him petty. Even his younger brother, Happy, called him petty a few times. But he wasn’t. He usually didn’t care what other people wanted to do or say. If he has a problem, he’ll be straightforward. However, it’s impossible to be straightforward with someone who refused to talk to him.

So, he had to sit and try not to punch anything in his wall. There was no way that he would be able to sleep. Not only was he furious that Gray wouldn’t even look at him, he was also genuinely worried. Gray hadn’t been the same since about halfway through the last year. Natsu tried to talk to him about it about a month before the last day of school. That led to very non-answers like, “I don’t know,” or, “Whatever,” and Natsu gave up. Then, whenever Natsu tried to talk to him, he got nothing in response. The occasional insult would be thrown, but it was nothing like before.

Their friendship was mainly based on the fact that they hated each other. With Gray giving him the cold shoulder, it felt more insulting than actually being insulted. He tried to explain this to Juvia, but she had never understood that type of dynamic in friendships, so she dismissed it. Well, she didn’t actually dismiss it. She told him that he shouldn’t take his behavior so personally. Gray was “going through stuff” and needed time before he would return to himself. Natsu was trying to accept that, but it was nights like that one that infuriated him. Just remembering it made him see red.

Just as he was winding up to punch the nearest thing in his room, Happy knocked at his door. Natsu deflated and plopped back onto his bed. “Come in.”

“Hey,” Happy said, holding a glass of milk, “I figured you might have some trouble sleeping so I brought you a glass of warm milk.”

Natsu smiled gratefully. “Does that actually work?”

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t hurt to try.”

“You’re right, I guess.” Natsu took the glass from Happy and downed it all at once. He relaxed against the headboard and turned to Happy. “Got any good stories?”

“I do, and I’ll tell you one if you’ll fall asleep.”

Natsu nodded and shimmied under the covers. Happy started telling an old fairy tale and Natsu almost instantly drifted off, the events that had previously consumed him with rage long forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I've been in a writing mood lately and I'm happy to say that I'm rewriting this story officially. Each chapter will say in the beginning notes if it has been edited. If it says nothing, it's an old chapter. Just thought I'd clarify! See you hopefully soon with Chapter 2!


	2. Lucy and Loke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy gets ready and Loke is not a morning person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rewritten Chapter <3

Lucy had not had a good night’s sleep. After her father screamed at her for almost half an hour about the danger and irresponsibility of her actions, he sent her to her room and locked himself in his office. After calming the rage in her from having another argument with her father, she was still wide awake. Even though her anger and fear from the night had subsided, the adrenaline had not. She ended up not being able to sleep until almost the sunrise, leading to her getting no more than one or two hours of sleep for the night.

Not only was the lack of sleep causing her to lose her more rational thought processing, it was also a contributing factor to the anger that had reformed when she had first opened her eyes that morning. Lucy could admit to herself even on her more delusional days that she had a short temper at the best of times. That usually made a bad first impression. So in her mind, it was completely reasonable to freak herself out about her last first day of high school.

At her last school, she had managed to accidentally insult a group of apparently influential people that happened to take accidental insults _ way too _seriously. They had made it their mission early on to embarrass and belittle her every chance they got. By the end of a grueling and tiring year, she was actually happy that her father dragged her into another state at the end of May. 

As she looked back a few weeks after she had left, she had realized her main mistake. She had cursed herself the whole year for being rude on the first day. She had been unable to make any friends the entire time she was there. In June, Lucy had spent a few days overthinking and worrying about how she would change her approach. No matter what she said, there were countless responses that would be impossible to respond to without someone getting their feelings hurt, whether it was her or someone else. So, Lucy decided that her best course of action would be to keep her head down and avoid conversations completely. That would be the only way to ensure that she didn’t upset anyone. Although she would be lonely the whole year, she would at least be able to walk through the halls without getting jeered at or pushed.

_ What a miserable way to live life, _Lucy wallowed. Although she liked to think that she was above pouting and complaining, she did so more than she preferred to admit. Unfortunately, she had trouble controlling her emotions and it was reflected in the way she interacted with people. Lucy was completely aware of this fact. It was one of the things that she despised most about herself. This emotional rollercoaster that she sent herself, and anyone who disagreed with her, on whenever something went wrong often gave people a bad feeling about her.

_ Maybe they’re right to feel that way, _Lucy thought, dejected. She checked her phone and noticed that she was running way behind, so she got dressed in a hurry, flinging unwanted items on her floor, leaving it for future her to take care of. 

During all of her reflection, the fact that she had to be there half an hour before classes started had completely slipped her mind.

Lucy half ran, half slid down the stairs in her haste to get to school in time. She quickly grabbed the piece of toast she had left for herself earlier that morning. It was cold and part of it was badly burnt, but it was food nonetheless. She yelled out a quick, “I’m leaving now!” to her father, not really caring if he heard or not, before running outside, slamming the door behind her. 

She made a mad dash towards the school, seeing a few students starting to make their way to the school as she got closer. This meant she also got more stares as she sprinted forward. _ Great, _ she thought, _ my first day hasn’t even started and I’m already embarrassing myself and late. _

She continued her mad dash toward the school, hoping that she would get there on time.

* * *

Loke woke up mad at the world. This was not unusual for him. In fact, it had become a startlingly common occurrence. That particular morning, however, he was mad because it was the first day of school. He was angry at the fact that he was shoved right back into the same old cycle that he had been stuck in since kindergarten. So it was really the usual first day feelings.

He dragged himself out of bed, and stood still for a moment, drowning in silence. Soon, the suffocating quiet became too much and he had to block it out. He considered for a moment how he would go about this, until he remembered where everyone went when they had a seemingly unsolvable problem. 

Juvia.

He clumsily fumbled his phone off of his nightstand and into his hands, which were still numb from sleep. He hummed and bounced on the balls of his feet while he waited for her to pick up the phone, hoping to bring some noise and energy into his body. After what felt like forever, Juvia finally answered the phone.

“Hello?” Juvia’s voice rang cheerily through the phone. Loke had forgotten that Juvia was such a morning person. _ She’s probably been awake for hours now, _he thought.

“I hate school.”

Loke could hear her stifle a giggle through the phone. “And why is that?” she asked.

“Same reasons as always, I guess. Stuck in the same routine, not having anyone to talk to, having to run away from exes-”

Juvia interrupted Loke, “Are they really exes if you never actually dated them?”

Loke sighed, “I wish that’s how they saw it. I never really even like these girls, but I lead them on and then break their hearts.”

“Do you ever think it’s just because you need someone to be able to talk to?” Juvia asked softly.

Loke shook his head, trying to quell the empty, achy feeling in his chest. “I have people to talk to. I have you, and Aries, and anyone else in the group at any time. Except maybe Gray. I don’t know about him right now,” he said, hoping to change the subject. 

“I know! I’m worried about him. He reminds me of how Freed was our sophomore year.” The diversion had worked. Loke had no doubts that it would. He knew Juvia, and the only way to distract her from a problem is to talk to her about a bigger one.

“Do you think it’s for the same reason?” he asked.

“Well,” Juvia said, “we agree that Freed was like that because he was trying to distance himself, right?”

Loke nodded again, only to then realize that Juvia can’t see him through the phone, “Right, because he was trying to avoid Laxus.”

“Exactly,” she said, “And once Laxus called him out on it and Freed felt guilty that he noticed, he went back to semi-normal.”

“So is that Gray’s issue?” Loke asked, genuinely interested in the conversation now, “He needs someone to call him out on his act?”

Juvia paused for a moment, thinking over the possible scenarios no doubt. “No,” she said after a bout of silence, “I think he needs a specific someone to call him out.”

“And who is this someone?” Loke asked.

“I don’t think we know yet. And I don’t think we are going to. At least not for a while.”

Loke frowned. He actually _ was _worried for Gray. He had been getting ready absentmindedly while talking to Juvia, and once they had finished the conversation about Gray he was ready. “Well Juvia,” Loke said, “I have to go. I’ll let you get the rest of the way ready on your own.”

Juvia said a quick “Goodbye!” before hanging up. Loke grabbed his keys from the table and made his way to his car. When he got in, he pulled out his phone to text Aries and say good morning before he started the car and started his way to the school, taking a route that had been practically ingrained into his brain at that point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Jeez this took a while. I'm not really in the fandom much anymore but I figured I need to continue the story, so the chapters will keep on coming. See you in Chapter 3, hopefully not 3 months from now!


	3. Natsu and Freed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu meets Lucy and Freed heads to school.

Natsu sat outside the school’s main entrance, scrolling through his phone. He was slightly tired since he had pulled another all-nighter. He was almost twenty minutes early and usually, he would wait with his little brother, Happy, who was a sophomore. Happy, however, had slept in, so it was taking him longer to get ready. He would probably be leaving in a few minutes, and their house was a five minute run from the school, so Happy would get there in a matter of minutes.

“Um... Excuse me?” Natsu heard a tentative voice ask. “Is this Magnolia High?”

Natsu looked up to see a blonde girl with a key ring on her belt. _ That’s strange, _he thought. Out loud, he said, “Yeah, this is it. I’m Natsu. Are you new here?” he asked, standing up and putting out a hand for this mystery girl to shake. 

“Yeah… I’m Lucy,” she said, shaking hands with him. 

“Well Loony, it’s nice to meet you,” Natsu said, grinning.

Lucy visibly clenched her teeth, “It’s _ Lucy _!” she said, squeezing his hand so hard he thought it was going to fall off.

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry. It was just a joke! Anyway, what grade are you in?”

“I’m sorry. I’m a senior, by the way.” Lucy answered, looking remorseful.

“Hey! So am I! I can show you around, can I see your schedule? I’ll help you make more friends too!” Natsu said, a little all over the place because of the excitement of the possibility of a new friend.

As she handed him her schedule, she asked, “_ More _friends?”

“Yeah, I’m your friend, aren’t I?”

Lucy smiled, “Yeah sure, why not? You seem pretty cool except for the whole ‘Loony’ thing.”

“Alright!” Natsu said, happy to have made Lucy less nervous, and have a new friend as well.

* * *

Freed was waiting inside his house for his friends, Laxus, Evergreen, and Bickslow to arrive and pick him up. Freed had been slightly uncomfortable around Laxus, as he had recently gotten a girlfriend. It kills Freed to listen to Laxus talk about his girlfriend. Freed had been crushing on Laxus since he was a sophomore. Laxus was painfully straight. Freed sighs, and as he does he hears a horn outside.

“FREEEEEEED! C’mon!” Evergreen screeched.

When Freed got to the car, he sat shotgun to Laxus. “Nice hair,” Laxus said sincerely.

As Evergreen and Bickslow looked at Laxus in shock, since Laxus didn’t compliment people, even his girlfriends. Freed blushed and replied with a soft “...thanks…”

Freed had spent more time than usual on his waist-length green hair. He had pulled his hair in a loose but careful braid at the side of his head.

Freed decided to change the subject before the moment got any more awkward. “Evergreen, you’re going to be dress coded for not covering your shoulders”

“Really, is that a rule?” she asked.

Freed rolled his eyes, “Honestly, I can’t believe you still haven’t learned the dress code.”

“Why do I need to do that when I have you to tell me?”

As they started to lightheartedly argue, Freed glanced at Laxus, who was staring at the road with a faint blush on his cheeks.

_ Weird…. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3! I have about 20 chapters already written, so expect much more.


	4. Wendy and Lucy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wendy meets a new kid and Lucy makes a friend.

Wendy was sitting in first period, staring at the clock. She wasn’t really paying attention, as she was slightly depressed that summer was over. Wendy and her little sister, Carla, had been playing outside all summer. Carla, a sophomore, was a year younger than Wendy, so they were close, and spent most of their time together. Wendy noticed that there was a new boy sitting next to her.

“Hiya!” he whispered, “I’m Romeo!”

“I-I’m Wendy.” she replied, “Are you new?” 

“Yeah, my dad and I just moved here last week.” He was very bright and bubbly. Wendy was usually a pretty shy person, which was why Carla was her closest friend. This boy seemed like a good person, so Wendy felt like he was trustworthy.

“S-So what class do you have after this?” she asked.

“I have poetry with Mr. Capricorn.” he answered with a confused look on his face, “I don’t actually know where that is is…”

“Oh! I can help you get there!” Wendy said.

The bell rang, and off they went, talking to each other about themselves. 

* * *

Lucy was very happy. Before school even started she had already made a friend, and he was going to introduce her to his group of friends too. Apparently, the siblings of the group hung out with them too, so it was a pretty big group of several people. She hoped they’d include her in their group.

She was sitting at a desk right between Natsu and a boy with blue hair and a white jacket that she was told was Gray Fullbuster, and she was right in the middle of an argument between the two when the history teacher, Mr. Crux, walked in and shut them up.

“Why are you two fighting?” Lucy whispered.

Natsu sighed, “I actually don’t know. He just started being meaner and meaner. Gray used to be a fun guy to talk to, but one day it was like a switch had flipped and he started down the path of evil or something.”

Lucy suddenly felt bad for Gray. “Aww, he seems like he’s having a hard time with something, and it’s making him drift away from you guys.”

“Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. How did you get so good at reading people, Loony?”

“IT’S LUCY!” she yelled, bringing attention to her, but Mr. Crux was sleeping so soundly it didn’t matter.

“Sorry,” she said, lowering her volume, “My mother was a therapist before she died, and she taught me all about psychology.” That was why Lucy wanted to be a therapist. Her mother helped so many people, and Lucy aspired to be just like her mother. Since her mother died three years ago, her father had become shut off from the rest of the world, including his daughter.

“I’m sorry,” Natsu, “But I can sympathize. I never my mom and dad, but my adoptive father disappeared when I was little. I went to live with Makarov, who raised me, Erza, Gray, and several others. I met Happy when he was a baby. He was lying on the street, just abandoned there. So, I took him to Makarov and he was like my little brother ever since. Happy and I eventually moved into our own apartment when I was sixteen, so I technically shouldn’t have gotten my own apartment, but Makarov helped me buy it. He also bought Gray an apartment, but Erza stayed with Makarov to help him raise the younger kids.”

“That’s sweet of her, ” Lucy said, feeling better than she was before.

“Yeah, she can be scary sometimes, but she really cares,” Natsu replied wistfully.

Just as Lucy was about to say something, the bell rang, and they both left, not having learned anything about history, but instead have learned more about each other.


	5. Freed and Carla

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Freed makes a choice and Carla gets an invitation.

Freed was sitting in the study hall with Laxus, who was complaining about homework on the first day to his girlfriend, who was sitting in front of them. Freed shifted awkwardly in his seat, since he wasn’t comfortable around Laxus’s new girlfriend, even though he knew she wouldn’t be with him for more than a year.

For some reason, Laxus never had a girlfriend for long periods of time. Laxus usually ended up driving them crazy with his habits. At least, that’s what Laxus told them. Freed had overheard him talking to one of his exes once, telling her not to tell anyone about his crush, whoever that lucky person was, so obviously, Laxus was keeping something from his friends. Then again, so was Freed.

Even though he had realized he was gay in fifth grade, he was still in the closet, which was emotionally exhausting. He had been planning to come out for years and senior year was his last chance to bite the bullet and start being more honest.

He decided he would go through with his plan after all these years and tell his friends after school today, after they got to meet a new friend that Natsu was introducing. He’d be able to tell everyone he knew and cared about there since he lived alone after his parents kicked him out.

_ This is going to be difficult… _he thought, already dreading what he would have to do.

* * *

Carla was outside of a classroom with Happy and Pantherlily, all three of them ready to be done with the school day. Gajeel, one of their friends and Pantherlily’s older brother, passed by and stopped when he saw the trio. There were a few other sophomores in the hallway, and they were all looking at Gajeel with a slightly frightened expression, since with all the piercings in his face, Gajeel was pretty intimidating. Carla knew that he was actually kind once you got past his rough exterior.

“Hey guys, we’re gonna meet someone new in the field after school. Natsu wants to introduce them to us.”

Happy looked confused, “Who?” he asked, tipping his head to the side.

“He didn’t say, just that she was new here and didn’t have anyone to talk to yet.”

Carla was excited to see this new mystery person. She hoped that this new student was slightly more sane than the rest of her friends. Even though they were a handful, she still loved them like family. She just needed a little more sanity in her life.

“We’ll be there!” she said.


	6. Freed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Freed makes an announcement.

Freed kept shifting his weight as he sat cross-legged on the grass. Freed, Laxus, Evergreen, and Bickslow were the first to arrive, since they usually skipped last period, who didn’t take attendance. They had been waiting for about forty-five minutes, so the others were due to arrive soon.

The first to arrive was Wendy and a boy with blackish hair who Freed had never seen before. He appeared to be new, and probably Wendy’s new friend.  _ Good,  _ Freed thought,  _ She needs more friends to support her.  _

“H-Hey guys…” Wendy said, “Th-This is Romeo, he’s new here. I told him he could tag along, is that okay?”

Freed nodded, and both juniors smiled gratefully.

“So,” Romeo asked, “Is this the giant group you were talking about?”

Laxus laughed, “Oh, not at all. Just you wait…”

Freed shot Laxus a look and stood up, walking over to shake Romeo’s hand. “Hi, I’m Freed,” he said.

Romeo’s eyes widened in recognition. “Wendy said that you’re the one with amazing hair that’s always in cool designs!”

“Well Wendy,” Freed said, turning to Wendy as she blushed, “I can teach you a few different braids sometime if you want.”

“R-Really? That would be awesome!” Wendy said. Freed laughed at how she changed emotions so quickly. She was really like a little sister to him, and he was genuinely glad to see her making new friends and coming out of her shell a little bit.

“Ok, so Romeo,” Freed continued, “This is Laxus, Evergreen, and Bickslow. We’re all seniors.” He pointed to each one as he said their name. Just then, Carla jumped on his back, startling him. 

Freed jumped and Carla, Happy, and Pantherlily started laughing hysterically. Over the laughter, Freed said, “This is Carla, who’s Wendy’s younger sister, Happy, and Pantherlily. They’re all sophomores.”

“Pantherlily?” Romeo asked.

“Do you have a problem with my name?” Pantherlily asked, seeming more curious than angry.

“No, it’s just an uncommon name, so I wanted to make sure I heard Freed correctly,” Romeo replied.

Freed had to hand it to Romeo, he was quick-witted. Most people would have awkwardly stuttered in fear, but he had a reasonable reason.

Freed then saw Gajeel with his arm wrapped around his girlfriend, Levy. “Hey bro,” he said and patted Pantherlily’s head, who swatted away Gajeel’s hand.

“Hey, you’re new!” he said, “I’m Gajeel and this is Levy. I’m Pantherlily’s older brother.” Levy nodded, “We’re seniors, like Freed’s group.” she added.

“Is this the whole group?” Romeo asked, incredulously.

“Nah, this is only half,” Laxus unhelpfully added, “Don’t worry though, they’ll all get here at once.”

Romeo’s eyes widened as he looked at Wendy, “You didn’t tell me you knew so many people…”

She shrugged, “They’re more like family,” she said, “A big, crazy family.”

They all laughed at that. Freed also contemplated what she had just said. He knew that what she said was very true. They were all loving and supportive of each other. If anyone had a problem, they could just tell the group and everyone would help, whether it was by cheering them up, helping them do something, or giving them possible solutions. No problems were too small or big. It was like a free and much more enjoyable therapy session. That was why Freed was so comfortable with coming out to him. They were most likely to support him no matter what. At least, that was what he hoped.

Natsu and the gang finally got there, so Freed introduced Romeo to them. “Romeo, this is Natsu, Gray, Erza, her boyfriend Jellal, Juvia, Loke, and Lisanna.” Each person waved as their names were said. He then pointed to a blonde girl but didn’t know her name, so he paused.

“Oh! I’m Lucy ” she said. Then, she looked at Natsu. “I didn’t realize when you said you had a few friends you had  _ these many friends _ .”

Freed laughed. New students usually avoiding the group, since there were so many people. It was relatively intimidating.

“Ok, well now that everyone has been properly introduced, does anyone have anything else to say before there’s chaos again?” Natsu asked.

Loke nodded and started talking about how he had been feeling weird, and some of the group recommended talking about feelings more, so he launched into a new conversation about his feelings of exhaustion. Freed tried to input some conversation, but he was preoccupied with being nervous about what he was planning to do. Laxus must have noticed because he was staring at Freed in a concerned way.

When Loke was done, Levy asked, “Does anyone else wanna tell us something before we split up?”

Freed took a shaky breath and stood up. “I do…” he said. Everyone instantly turned their attention to him, since he was acting truly serious. “I’ve wanted to tell you guys something for a long time. Actually, since I was eleven.” Everyone looked shocked that Freed had been struggling with something alone for that long. He continued, “Since this is a lot of people’s last year of being in Magnolia High, I wanted to tell you something so I didn’t feel like I was lying to you guys.” They were all silently urging him to tell his secret.

“...I’m gay…”


	7. Natsu, Erza, Loke, Evergreen, Gray, and Laxus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group reflect on what Freed means to them.

Natsu let his mouth fall open. The entire group was completely silent. That was not what he was expecting Freed to say. _ I mean, of course, I’m okay with that, we’re a family and we love each other. _ Natsu looked up and saw that Freed was starting to tear up and had a frightened look on his face.

* * *

Erza took immediate notice of the silence. She also immediately decided that it didn’t matter if he was a five-headed dragon running for mayor, he was Freed, the smart and quiet, yet outgoing and bold friend with a crush on Laxus so obvious that it was amazing Laxus hadn’t realized. He was Freed.

* * *

Loke smiled. He had suspected that Freed was gay since whenever he would mention Laxus to Freed, he would start blushing. Loke didn’t ask Freed though, because he didn’t want to force Freed to come out to him. At first, Loke thought Freed was bisexual because he could have sworn that Freed and Evergreen were dating, but whenever he would mention her, Freed would just nod fondly and laugh a little. Loke recognized that as treating her like a sister since Loke had almost a dozen siblings and what felt like hundreds of cousins. He was actually one of the only ones in his gigantic friend group who had a big, happy family, so he didn’t really talk about his family life. Most of the kids in their group were alone or had a small family and needed to be with other people. Loke just felt most comfortable around a bunch of people he cared about. Loke snapped out of his trance, realizing he had spaced out for a few seconds. He looked around and beamed when he saw that Natsu and Erza and a few others were smiling and nodding as well. That smile instantly dropped when he saw how terrified Freed looked.

* * *

Evergreen stared in shock at Freed’s panicked face. Of course, she wasn’t mad, just a little dumbfounded. It was a bit of a ridiculous reaction, but her, Laxus, and Bickslow spent almost every waking hour with Freed, but judging by the looks of Laxus and Bickslow, they had no idea either. She looked over at Bickslow and they both glanced at Laxus, who was still staring at Freed open-mouthed. Then, surprisingly, a blush slowly developed on his cheeks, the tips of his ears, and the back of his neck. Evergreen and Bickslow looked back at each other in even more shock than before. 

“Are you okay with Freed still?” Evergreen whispered.

“Yes, definitely.” Bickslow answered immediately, “What about you?”

“Obviously…” Evergreen quietly hissed. “He’s my best friend. It doesn’t matter if he’s gay, straight, or horizontal, he’s still Freed, and he’s amazing.”

“Good,” Bickslow replied. Evergreen agreed with a nod.

* * *

Gray felt like the world was crashing down around him and like time had stopped at the same time. He had a newfound respect for Freed in doing something so nerve-wracking. Gray had been keeping a secret for a while, and he knew how hard it was to keep something huge. Just the thought of him telling everyone his secret was terrifying. 

Gray looked up and saw that his friends were shocked, and he agreed. But, he also saw that some people were softly smiling. Gray froze and realized that maybe, just maybe, they would be accepting of Freed, and in turn be accepting of him as well. He felt all of a sudden paralyzed with hope and fear. It was odd, but he almost felt dizzy at the prospect of telling them. _ Maybe I will tell them. _

* * *

Laxus felt like he was going to pass out, or die, or both. He just stared at Freed, mind blank for a moment, feeling slightly out of it. Laxus had always thought that Freed was straight. He also thought that he had a one-sided crush on Freed, which was probably still true, but at least he had a slight chance. _ Don’t get your hopes up. _Laxus warned himself.

Laxus had an extremely strong crush on Freed. Freed was sweet and understanding. He also listened when someone was ranting to the whole group and was one of the main problem solvers. Freed was one of the people who held everyone up. Laxus felt completely comfortable with Freed and when they were alone, which was often since they were inseparable, Laxus could be entirely vulnerable without having to worry about being judged.

*****

_ Laxus met Freed in eighth grade. Natsu had been talking to Laxus for about a month and convinced him to come to hang out with their group of friends, which was significantly smaller than the current size, almost half of that. Laxus’s eyes had instantly met another’s blue ones. He had waist-length green hair and a beauty mark right below his left eye. Natsu introduced him to everyone, introducing the green haired boy last. Natsu then led him over to the boy and said, “Laxus, this is Freed. Freed, I told you I’d find someone for you to talk to.” Natsu winked and walked away, leaving the two boys to stand awkwardly and look at each other. _

_ “So… I like your hair…” Laxus said, inwardly cringing at how creepy and weird that sounded. _

_ His hair was beautiful, though. It was all down, except for a small braid about two fingers thick on the right side of his head and was bobby pinned in the middle of the back of his hair, near his lower back. Laxus had never seen hair so long, not even on girls, and it looked soft. Laxus’s finger itched to touch it and see how soft it really was. _

_ Freed laughed and they fell into an easy conversation, teasing each other and telling each other things that neither expected to ever tell anyone. They had been best friends ever since. _

*****

Laxus was spacing out and was snapped back to reality when he felt his face getting warm. _ Oh no, am I really blushing? _Laxus thought as he tried to hide his red face. 

Laxus thought back to when he wanted to touch Freed’s hair so badly but thought it would be weird. He still hadn’t touched it, but he fantasized about Freed and him lying in the field that all of them always spent time in. Fake Freed would have his head in Laxus’s lap and would be talking lazily about life, while Laxus would be listening and playing with Freed’s mint green hair. It would be perfect if Laxus could muster up enough courage to ask Freed out.

Laxus mentally slapped himself. _ Stop daydreaming! Don’t give yourself false hope! _If only he had the guts to talk to Freed about it. If only he was as brave as Freed. If only he was able to stop dating all these girls who were just using him for popularity and he’d never even kissed before.

_ Sigh... _


	8. Natsu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu speaks for the group.

Natsu stood up and walked over to Freed. Freed cowered back and tears started to well up in his eyes. Natsu felt bad that all of them had taken so long to respond to him because that was most likely why Freed was responding the way he was.

“Freed,” Natsu started, “Of course that would be okay. We’re all a family and none of us have a problem with you being gay,” Everyone nodded in agreement, “None of us are homophobic, that’s just not how our group works.” Freed was smiling and had tears silently running down his face. 

Then, Laxus came up and put a hand on Freed’s shoulder. With a sob, Freed turned around and wrapped his arms around Laxus’s waist, pulling him close and burying his face in Laxus’s chest, still shaking and sobbing. Laxus, with a flushed face, put his arms around Freed’s shoulders and held him.

*****

_ Natsu remembered meeting both boys. He met Freed when they were nine. Freed would spend time around Angel and Midnight, who were well known for using people. Freed was just so fragile looking that it made Natsu feel bad, so he asked him if he wanted to be friends. Freed had feebly nodded and so Natsu introduced him to Erza and Gray, two of his foster siblings, and Loke, one of the only people who didn’t make fun of Natsu’s temper. They were all best friends. Freed was a great addition to the group, but he didn’t feel comfortable talking to the rest of them about his problems, feeling like a burden. He told Natsu that problem when they were twelve. _

_ A few weeks after Natsu turned fourteen, he noticed a new kid sitting on a bench, practically fuming. Natsu went over and introduced himself, learning that his name was Laxus. Laxus seemed closed off, but Natsu had an idea. When all of his friends met up on the schoolyard after school a few weeks later, he brought Laxus with him. He introduced Laxus to everyone, purposely introducing Freed last. Natsu noticed that Laxus kept glancing at Freed, which made Natsu excited that his plan might work. He led Laxus over to Freed and introduced them. After winking at Freed, he left to have them talk to each other. When he finished his conversation with Erza, he looked back to see the two boys laughing and blushing. Natsu never said it out loud, but he secretly shipped them, even though he thought they were both straight. _

*****

_ Obviously not…  _ Natsu thought to himself.  _ At least, Freed isn’t. _

_ _ Then, he felt himself get yanked into the hug by Freed. “Th-Thank you,” Freed whispered. Then, Loke yelled “Group hug!”

Everyone ran over to hug Freed, even Lucy and Romeo, who didn’t know him that well but knew he was a good person. Well, everyone except Gray.

_ Strange…  _ Natsu thought but then decided to drop it as that was supposed to be a happy time.


	9. Freed and Gray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Freed is grateful and Gray is jealous.

Freed felt like he’d died and went to Heaven. No, wait, he was just being squeezed so hard he couldn’t breathe.

First of all, all of his friends, even his new ones, were giving him a bone-crushing group hug.

Second of all, no one was even giving him a dirty look, which was so much more than he hoped would happen. What else did he expect from such a caring and welcoming friend group?

Lastly, Freed had his arms around Laxus, who was hugging him back just a fiercely. Freed was mentally squealing. His crush of three years was actually hugging him.

Everyone broke apart and started talking in their groups again, with significantly more joy in their tones. Laxus and Freed went back and sat down near Evergreen and Bickslow. They were talking in hushed, quick voices, so the two boys sat next to each other. Evergreen and Bickslow had been secretly talking about something for a while, but Freed didn’t mind at all. Laxus scooted slightly closer to Freed, not obviously, but close enough that they were touching legs. While they talked, Freed tried not to blush but he could feel his face getting hot.

Laxus stopped mid-sentence after checking his watch. “Actually, I have to go.” He stood up and Freed stood up with him.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, right?” Freed asked, making sure that their Tuesday plans hadn’t been deterred by Freed coming out.

“Yep. See ya tomorrow.” Freed smiled, but it immediately dropped when Laxus put his hand on the back of Freed’s head and kissed his forehead. “Bye!”

Freed realized after a few seconds of standing there speechless that Laxus didn’t even register what he was doing. He had kissed Freed subconsciously. Freed’s face was burning, and he hid it in his hands. Honestly, he hoped that Laxus would kiss him again, but on his lips instead. 

_ I’m hopelessly in love with him, _ Freed thought, _ but I might actually have a chance. _

* * *

Gray had just closed his mouth for a few minutes when Natsu went up to Freed to talk to him. When everyone rushed to hug Freed, Gray just sat there, frozen to the spot in shock, with his mouth gaping. He would have never expected that the response to Freed would be so overwhelmingly positive. It was like there was a tsunami of acceptance and love rushing towards Freed.

But Gray couldn’t find it in himself to be as enthusiastic. 


	10. Lucy and Laxus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy is cautious and Laxus makes a mistake.

Lucy was sitting in the grass talking to Natsu and another kid, Loke. Actually, she was talking to Loke and Natsu was staring at something, giving short answers to questions directed at him. Finally, Lucy had had enough. 

“Natsu!” she yelled.

He snapped to attention and jumped. “What?” he asked.

“What in the world has you so distracted?” Lucy said, slightly angry but also intrigued to see what Natsu was so sidetracked by. 

“Laxus just left…”

“So?” Loke asked, “He probably had to meet his girlfriend. Why is that such a big deal?”

Natsu smiled like he was crazy, “Well, it wouldn’t be a big deal if he hadn’t kissed Freed’s forehead!”

Lucy’s mouth fell open. She heard Loke mutter “...crazy shipper…”

Natsu stood up. “I’m telling the truth!” He stomped one of his feet down. “Let’s go ask Freed about it!”

“That’s probably not a good idea…” Lucy said warily. She then looked over at Freed, who had his head in his hands obviously flustered for some reason. _ Maybe Natsu really _ is _ telling the truth. _

“Let’s go then,” Loke said to Natsu, both boys ignoring Lucy. They started to where Freed was sitting. Lucy huffed, gathered her supplies, and followed suit.

* * *

Laxus still had Freed on the mind while he walked away.

_ I wonder if he- Wait… Did I just kiss him? _ Laxus started panicking and ran the rest of the way to his car. He got in, and just sat there for a few seconds. Then, the onslaught of worry washed over him like a tsunami.

_ What if Freed hates me now? What if we can’t be friends? What if he thinks I did something bad to him on purpose? What am I going to tell him? _More “What if”s cycled through his brain. He knew one thing for sure. His girlfriend definitely wanted to talk to him to break up. He couldn’t blame her, he valued Freed more than anyone else. How could he not? It was hard for anyone to compete with Freed.

*****

_ Originally, for about the first year and a half of knowing him, Laxus just thought that Freed was an amazing person and that the feelings he felt towards Freed were completely platonic. One of his first girlfriends thought otherwise. It was brought up during their third date, which was at the park. They were sitting on a bench, telling each other about themselves. Finally, his girlfriend stood up. _

_ “Do you have a crush on Freed Justine, Laxus?” she asked, pointing a finger at him. _

_ “What? No! Where did you get that idea?” Laxus was thoroughly confused, seeing as he’d never thought of Freed that way. _

_ “You keep talking about his ‘dry humor’ and his ‘soft looking hair’. You talk about him more than anything else! I’m sick of it!” She paused for a deep breath, this was obviously something she had been keeping to herself for a while. “You know, all of my friends told me that you were obsessed with this Freed person, but I chose to believe that you would love me more than him. Obviously, I was wrong.” Laxus gulped. He had never been accused of liking Freed. _

_ “I’m sorry,” she finished, “but it’s not gonna work out.” With that, she walked away. _

*****

That had stayed with Laxus for a long time. Everyone in his group of friends knew he was pansexual except for Freed, who Laxus had a crush on, therefore telling him would make his crush more obvious, and Natsu, since the idiot couldn’t keep his mouth shut. When Laxus told him what happened with his girlfriend, Natsu had gone and blabbed to Freed about it. Freed had just laughed and made fun of Laxus for it.

Laxus pulled into his girlfriend’s driveway. He got out of his car, locked it, walked up to her house, and knocked on her door. She answered by sticking her head out of the opening of her door. “It’s over, sorry,” she said. 

Laxus nodded and went back to the car, cutting her off before she could say anything else. He felt too guilty for being a bad boyfriend. Laxus got out his phone and started texting Juvia, who he ranted to at least once a week.

**Laxus: **my gf just broke up with me. I think she found out about my crush on Freed.

He pressed send and then clicked on her contact to call her. That’s when he realized he had sent the text to none other than Freed Justine himself.


	11. Freed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Freed fixes things.

Freed felt lonely. The past twenty-four hours had been rough. He had gotten a text from Laxus that was obviously meant for someone, anyone, but him. It had basically been accidental.

Laxus didn’t mention it. In fact, he hadn’t been mentioning anything to Freed. When he got to school by bus, since Laxus hadn’t been there to pick him up. Freed could tell that Laxus was purposely avoiding him. They hadn’t talked at during class, and although Freed had been talking to other friends, he had never felt more alone. Freed had made up his mind, he would talk to Laxus about his text.

At the end of the day, Freed made a beeline towards the field. The juniors weren’t there, and Happy had already told the group they wouldn’t be there, so no sophomores either. He was sitting against a tree doing homework when the rest of the group got there. Laxus made eye contact with him, and Freed started choking up. He hadn’t realized just how much Laxus meant to him until they weren’t basically attached at the hip. Of course, Freed had an idea of Laxus’s importance, but a punch in the gut he felt whenever he remembered that Laxus wasn’t speaking to him anymore was almost unbearable. 

When he finished his homework, everyone was gone except for him, Natsu, Loke, Erza, the new girl Lucy, and Laxus. Freed gave Natsu a look that hopefully said  _ Take the rest of you guys and let me talk to Laxus.  _ Natsu got the message and stood up. 

“Hey guys, let’s go to Vulcan’s ice cream parlor!” Natsu said enthusiastically

“Sure!” Lucy said, glancing over at Freed and matching Natsu’s enthusiasm to a tee. 

Everyone stood up, including Laxus. Gray and Erza had caught on, however, and Loke spoke up.

“Don’t wait up!” he yelled to Laxus and he took off, Erza and Natsu running after him. Lucy smiled apologetically, shrugged, and ran off too. 

Laxus threw his arms up in defeat and turned sheepishly to Freed. “Hey,” he started, “I’m really sorry for sending that to you. It was meant for Juvia. Then I guess I kinda just freaked out.” Laxus was visibly uncomfortable.

Freed’s heart was pounding. “Do you really have a crush on me?” he asked. 

Laxus looked down, blushing profusely. Freed walked over so that they were only about five inches apart. He looked up at Laxus, looking straight into his green eyes that were welling up with tears. Laxus cleared his throat. “Y-Yeah, I do. I’ve had one for over two years now.”

Freed moved slightly closer and put his hands on Laxus’s chest. He looked at him again and then slumped against Laxus, resting his head between his hands.

“I win,” he said, inwardly smirking at what he was about to say.

“What?” Laxus asked, obviously thrown off by Freed’s statement. 

“I’ve had a crush on you for  _ three _ years!” Freed responded, knowingly acting like a child.

Laxus rolled his eyes and grabbed Freed’s waist, pulling him closer. Freed’s eyes widened and his heart started pounding so hard he thought it might jump out of his chest. 

Laxus smirked and Freed decided that having dignity didn’t matter anymore. He wrapped his arms around Laxus’s neck, stood on his toes, pulled Laxus down, and kissed him.

Freed realized that he would gladly have waited his whole life if it meant he would get to kiss Laxus again. He felt, for once, completely wanted.


	12. Lucy, Wendy, and Evergreen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy eats ice cream, Wendy races, and Evergreen notices some strangers.

Lucy’s mouth was numb. She had eaten almost a gallon of ice cream, and she felt like she was going to explode. 

“So,” Erza asked, “What was that all about?”

“Well-” Natsu started, but Lucy cut him off by raising her hand to his face. 

“Laxus and Freed needed to talk,” she said. Loke chuckled, “Yeah, _ talk _.” he said, making air quotes with his hands. Erza smacked him on the back of the head.

Natsu looked confused. “What do you mean?” he asked.

Rubbing the back of his head, Loke said, “Freed and Laxus have crushes on each other.”

Natsu froze and looked at him. “Wait a minute,” Natsu said, slowly building volume, “You said that there was no way those two could ever be together. They’ve had crushes on each other! For how long?”

Loke sighed, “Around two years, give or take a few months.” He looked like he was bracing for something.

Natsu beamed, “TWO YEARS! YEAH! I CALLED IT!” He yelled, standing up and pumping his fists in victory.

They were then promptly escorted out of the parlor.

* * *

Wendy and Romeo rushed out of class together. They had gotten detention for talking in class, so they were late for hanging out with the rest of their friends. Unfortunately, when they got to the field, everyone was gone.

Well, everyone except for Freed and Laxus, who were sitting under a tree. Freed was lying in Laxus’s lap while they were talking serenely. Laxus was playing with Freed’s hair, with the biggest smile on his face. Wendy had never seen him so happy.

“Wow, they’re, _ ahem _, busy,” Romeo commented. “Let’s go to your house instead.” Wendy blushed. She had developed a crush on Romeo, which was not something she was happy about. He was her first close friend, and she didn’t want to ruin their friendship. Still, she couldn’t help but feel warm at the thought of them getting to spend time alone, out of class. 

Both teens got their bikes off the rack. They got on and Romeo lined his front wheel with Wendy’s. “On the count of three, we go. Whoever wins gets to be the blue guy in Candyland.” They both liked the blue piece best and constantly competed for who got it. 

Wendy narrowed her eyes. “You’re on,” Romeo smirked.

Wendy blushed, cleared her throat, and said, “Ready?” Romeo nodded. “One,” he said. 

“Two,” Wendy replied, smiling.

“THREE!” They both yelled together, and took off, towards Wendy’s house, laughing and shouting.

* * *

Evergreen sipped her coffee while she watched two familiar-looking strangers. They both had white hair and dark eyes. Evergreen couldn’t make out what they were saying, but it looked like they were having a lighthearted debate. Evergreen took a final sip of her coffee that had gotten cold, as she was too busy being nosy to remember to drink it. 

Evergreen sauntered over to the front counter. The barista sighed and looked up from what she was doing. “Welcome to Aquarius Cafe,” she said in the most monotone voice Evergreen had ever heard her use. “I’m Aquarius. What do you want?”

Evergreen smirked. “I want…” she said, acting like she was reading the menu on the countertop. “You to tell me who those two are.” She gestured toward the strangers. 

Aquarius huffed. “You really don’t recognize them?” she asked with a slightly sassy undertone. Evergreen just blankly stared at her. Aquarius rolled her eyes, “They’re the two oldest Strauss kids. The other one is a senior at your school. Lasagna, or something like that.”

“They’re Lisanna's siblings?” Evergreen asked in disbelief. Aquarius merely went back to what she was doing before Evergreen had approached her. Evergreen looked back at the two, who she now knew were brother and sister. She decided she wanted to get to know these strangers better, especially the guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it's been so Fraxus focused. It won't be so focused in on one relationship at a time in future chapters. Peace!


	13. Lucy and Gray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy hopes and Gray can't sleep.

Lucy was reading her new romance novel that she had gotten just before school started. She had just about made it two- thirds of the way through the book when her phone buzzed. She usually didn’t get texts from anyone, but she had given her phone number to Natsu, Loke, and Erza right after they were kicked out of Vulcan’s. She claimed she wanted to make sure everyone got home safe, but it was really because she had never given out her number before. She never had friends to text with.

She checked the screen and saw that Loke had texted her. She opened up the text and started having a conversation with him.

**Loke: **Hey wyd tomorrow?

**Lucy: **Idk, you?

**Loke: **I was thinking we could go to the mall and then swing by Aquarius Cafe?

**Lucy: **Sure! Who else is going?

**Loke: **Sorry, everyone else is busy, it’ll be just us. Is that ok?

**Lucy: **Yep!

Lucy held in an excited squeal. She had heard from one of the girls, Evergreen, that Loke was a player. He always flirted with multiple girls, sometimes at once, but had no wish to be their boyfriend. That didn’t really sound like a player to Lucy, but she gave Evergreen the benefit of the doubt.

However, the first time Lucy had gone to the field with them, Loke had said he wanted a real relationship. That was the only reason Lucy still held onto hope that they would end up together. 

If it wasn’t already obvious, Lucy had a crush on Loke. Not a _ He’s a really pretty and popular guy _ crush, but a _ He's a really funny and considerate guy _ crush. She had become enamored with his likable personality. She sighed. It was probably not a good idea to be thinking about a boy notorious for breaking hearts. _ Still… _ she thought _ a girl can dream… _

* * *

Gray was tossing and turning, trying to get some sleep. He couldn’t stop worrying about his future. 

_ What if everyone finds out about my… secret? _ He couldn’t even think about it. _ I really am pathetic. _ Natsu and he had had another argument earlier that day, and even though Natsu had been walking around and acting like usual, some of what he had said had cut deep into Gray’s insecurities. Namely being called a coward. That one had really hurt. _ Probably because I am, _he thought. 

Gray had been insecure about himself for as long as he could remember. He always thought he was the weakest friend, or the most boring friend, or just overall the worst friend. When he had figured out his secret, Gray was basically pushed over the edge. He started distancing himself from the group, but Natsu wouldn’t let him. That pink-haired firecracker was determined to make sure everyone was happy. Gray used to be like that. In fact, he still was. That was why he didn’t want to be so heavily involved in friendships. If his friends found out, they would hate him. They would also most likely be upset, which would ruin their moods as well. _ Nice going Gray, _ he thought, _ You couldn’t just make yourself unhappy, you had to risk everyone else too. _

Gray sighed and turned over again. _ If I’m not going to get any sleep, I might as well allow myself to daydream. _ And boy, did he daydream. He thought about what it would be like to tell everyone and get such an amazing reaction, like Freed earlier that week. That wouldn’t quite work for him, seeing as his secret would cause most of his friends to hate him. Then, he daydreamed about not a what, but a who. The person that was disliked in the group. This person was a bully and was rude to people who didn’t respect their more powerful friends. They were bitter, but Gray had recently found something out, _ it was all an act. _They were just trying to find a place to belong. So, Gray started paying attention to them and how they act and slowly began to crush on this person. That was the main thing that had Gray acting so distant. He figured that if his friends found out that he liked the person who had bullied so many of them, they might stop being friends with him; that was something that terrified Gray to the very core. 

As Gray thought about this person, he could feel his eyes slowly get heavier and droopier. Eventually, he was fighting to keep his eyes open. He closed his eyes and within minutes drifted off to sleep, with his dreams full of an all-too-familiar white-haired figure.


	14. Loke and Erza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loke dreams and Erza gets ready.

_ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

* * *

Loke awoke to the most irritating sound known to humankind, or at least that’s what he considered it. He groaned and turned over, glaring at his alarm clock like it was his long-time arch enemy. _ Which, _ he thought, _ it technically was. _After a few seconds, he practically screeched, and then pulled the clock from the wall and threw it across the room, effectively shutting it up. He dragged his hands down his face and then puffed out his cheeks. After ‘stretching’ his face, he stood up and raised his arms over his head, stretching his torso as well. After doing this, he ambled over to his desk, still trying to deny that school had started, even though school had been in session for an entire week. 

_ Wait… _ Loke thought, his eyes snapping open, _ It’s Saturday! _

And with that, which was possibly the best news he had had in a long time, he jumped back in bed and drifted off to sleep. 

*****

_ Loke sat up so quickly it gave him a headache. He was in a mysterious wooden building with his head on a bar counter. He looked around and everything looked almost fuzzy. _

_ “I’m dreaming,” he said out loud. “Woah…” _

_ He looked at the blonde woman’s back. He got up and moved towards her. He tapped her shoulder and she whirled around. _

_ Loke looked at her with his mouth open so wide that anyone who looked at him would be able to see every single tooth in his mouth. “Lucy?” _

_ “Loke? I thought you hated me since I was a celestial wizard!” _

_ Loke took a second to process the unfamiliar information that was just shoved down his throat for him to digest. “Wait… A what?” _

_ “A celestial wizard,” she said as if it were obvious. “Are you alright? You seem sick… Did you get hurt while you were out on a mission?” Lucy seemed concerned for his well-being, which was a comforting thought. _

_ “Ummmm….” He muttered. Then, he realized something. _ ** _This is a dream. I can do whatever I want. _ **

_ He snickered and then proceeded to prank all of his friends in this strange dream. _

* * *

Erza woke to an icy sensation in her face. She gasped from the cold and started choking on water. She sat up quickly, still coughing, and rubbed the sleep -and water- out of her eyes. 

When Erza’s vision was finally clear of any blurriness caused by getting water thrown into her face, she looked up.

Looking down at her smugly was none other than her obnoxiously adorable boyfriend, Jellal. She glared daggers at him.

Not even bothering to be quiet, he muttered, “If looks could kill…”

Erza threw a cold, soaked pillow at Jellal, and it hit him right in the nose. She hadn’t thrown it hard, but he still feigned injury. He dramatically stumbled around their bedroom, clutching his nose and howling in mock pain. For some reason, unknown to even her, Erza found this hilarious.

Erza laughed so hard she had to clutch her sides. When she caught her breath, she wiped her cheeks, since she had been laughing so hard she had started crying. When she was finally calm enough to look up, she saw Jellal looking at her with the fondest expression she had ever seen.

“What?” she asked, curious as to why he was looking at her like she was the most important thing in the world. 

“Nothing,” he said, still looking at her. “Do you wanna get ready now? Then we can get breakfast at Aquarius’s.”

She nodded, and he walked into the bathroom, presumably to finish getting ready himself.

Erza rubbed her eyes again, still not quite awake. She ambled over to her closet, opening the door, and looked at herself in the full-length mirror. After rubbed her eyes one last time, she picked out a simple navy blue t-shirt and cut-off jeans. She threw those on and ran a brush through her hair. Erza looked at herself in the mirror more closely and determined that she could go to Aquarius Cafe without makeup.

_ I’ve gone to that place in my freaking pajamas, I think that I can go makeup free for a morning. _Nodding to herself, Erza made her way to the bathroom and brushed her teeth in the mirror while Jellal looked over her and brushed his teeth. When they were done, they both threw their shoes on. Jellal grabbed his wallet and Erza took both of their phones off of the chargers. They both made their way to the front door. Jellal looked down at Erza, and her heart melted all over again. 

“Ready?” he asked. 

She pecked him on the cheek. “Ready.” Erza grabbed his hand and walked out the door, Jellal locking it behind them.


	15. Lucy and Laxus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy panics and Laxus makes plans.

Lucy sat at the dining table, nervously drumming her fingers. Everything she could be worried about, she was.

_ What if this was all I joke? What if he doesn’t want to hang out with me. Gods, I shouldn’t have said yes. I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. _

Lucy shook her head, almost violently. It would do her no good to worry about things she couldn’t control, such as how Loke saw her. As if he were summoned by her thinking his name, Loke appeared in the window. He had his eyes crossed and his nose pressed against the glass, fogging it up.

Despite her anxiety, Lucy giggled at his playfulness. She stood up, brushed out the wrinkles on her dress, and walked over to the door, opening it for Loke. 

When he walked in, she gave him a quick hug with one arm. Then, she stood back to assess his mood.

He looked genuinely excited to be there, almost jumped around with energy, but Lucy couldn’t tell if that was for her or just his personality. She hoped it was a bit of both.

Lucy felt herself relax a little more. He was like a little kid about to get a present. She felt a small smirk start to appear on her face. Then, she saw Loke look at her strangely.

“What?” she asked.

Loke looked down sheepishly. “Nothing,” he said, “I’m just excited to go to the mall with you.”

Loke rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Then, he straightened his posture dramatically.

“SO,” he shouted, making Lucy jump, “Are you ready?”

She nodded reluctantly. Loke broke out into a blinding smile that Lucy couldn’t help but grin at. Loke chuckled and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go then!” he said brightly, with the enthusiasm of a young child on Christmas morning. Lucy couldn’t help but feel engulfed in positivity, to the point where all of her worries melted away in an instant. It was so great to finally have a friend like him.

*****

_ Lucy always felt like she was the odd one out in every situation. She never really had friends, but, more often than not, some of the annoying, more popular girls would invite her to join them at their lunch table or spend time with them after school. Lucy always dreaded these, but she went anyway. Usually, it would be fine, if not a bit awkward, until the girls started talking about the topic of crushes. _

_ Lucy had realized a long time ago that most of these popular girls had the same personality; they liked to gossip, especially about romance. _

_ Whenever they would get to the topic of boys, Lucy would always inwardly cringe, since she knew what question they would inevitably ask. _

_ “So Lucy… Who do you like?” _

_ Lucy would just laugh and say something along the lines of, “I’ve only been here for a short while, so I don’t know any of the boys very well.” When she said that, the girls would usually laugh at her and try to convince her to fess up on her crush. _

_ To be honest, Lucy had only ever had three crushes in her life. They had all been on guys she was close friends with and knew very well. She wasn't interested in dating guys that she had just met. If she knew you for a while and you had shown yourself to be an amazing person, you had a decent chance with her, but if someone had set you up with her on a blind date, there was a high chance you two wouldn’t go on a second one. _

_ Lucy had always thought that she was different from everyone else. She could never understand how people would like someone just by talking to someone a couple times. She had never had a crush on someone without knowing them for a long time. _

_ She thought that something was wrong with her. She thought that she was crazy, and she was doing something wrong by not wanting to be in a relationship with every guy she had a nice conversation with. It certainly seemed like everyone was that way, so why wasn’t she? _

_ Lucy had some friends that she talked to no matter where she lived. Their names were Taurus and Cancer. Even though they both flirted with her from time to time, she saw them as brothers. They had connections to a lot of people, and they always seemed to have the right advice for her when she texted them with a question. _

_ She had asked them one night if they knew anyone like her. She told them all about her worries and how she was different from all of the other girls. Cancer had told her to look up what a demiromantic person was. _

_ When she looked it up, the answer was that these people felt attracted to people, but didn’t want an emotional relationship with someone until they had a deep connection with them. _

_ Lucy felt almost weightless once she figured out what was wrong with her. She had realized that there was, in fact, nothing wrong with her whatsoever. She simply had different ways of falling for people. _

_ She didn’t always need to know someone for a very long time to want to be in a relationship with them. If she deeply trusted someone, she had a chance of falling in love with them. _

_ It was both a blessing and a curse. She didn’t have to worry about being in love with someone she barely knew and was afraid to talk to, but her feelings were usually unrequited, seeing as her crushes wouldn’t want to ruin the friendship between them. _

*****

“Lucy?” Loke asked, concerned. “Are you okay?”

Lucy looked at him from the passenger’s seat of his car which, from the way he looked at it in admiration when she brought it up, was obviously one of his prized possessions. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just thinking about, um, life…” she said vaguely.

Loke laughed. “Well, let’s talk about life then. What do you wanna know about me?”

Lucy pondered this for a moment. “Okay, what’s your favorite color?”

Loke thought carefully, make Lucy snort in amusement at how serious he was about color. “I think,” he said, “that I don’t have a favorite color. If I had to choose though, I would probably pick green, just because it’s the color I wear every day.”

Lucy smirked, “Good answer,” she said, winking.

Loke snapped his head back to the road. It may have just been Lucy’s imagination, but she could’ve sworn that he was blushing. It was probably just a trick of the light making Lucy think she saw his cheeks reddening.

Or not. She really hoped they weren't though.

* * *

Laxus woke up to his phone ringing loudly.

_ That’s weird, _ he thought, _ I thought I turned off my alarm last night. I must’ve forgotten. _

He rolled over and reached out for his phone. He looked at his screen and was about to turn off his alarm when he saw that it wasn’t his alarm ringing, it was Freed calling him. Laxus’s pulse quickened as he remembered the previous day’s events. The embarrassment of having to apologize to Freed for texting him an accidental confession, Freed kissing him, the feeling of Freed’s hair between his fingertips as they talked about nothing important.

Laxus answered the phone nervously, yet eagerly at the same time.

“Hello?” he asked, his voice gravely from having just woken up.

“Did I wake you up?” Freed asked, sounding concerned.

“No… I just- uh- well, y’ see…” Laxus trailed off, not knowing where he was going with his lie.

“Laxus!” Freed scolded from the phone, “You should’ve been awake by now!”

“Well,” Laxus retorted, “It's not my fault you called me so early in the morning!”

“It’s 10:30!” Freed exclaimed incredulously.

Even though he couldn’t see Freed’s face, Laxus could tell by his tone of voice that Freed was trying to suppress a smile.

“Sorry sweetheart…” Laxus said, trying to get a reaction out of Freed.

Now instead of amusement, Laxus could practically hear Freed blushing through the phone. Then he heard a crashing noise and Freed yelping. 

Laxus quickly went from smirking to worried. “Are you okay?”

He could hear Freed’s muffled voice, almost like he was covered up by something. “I fell off the bed!”

Laxus fell backward onto his bed, laughing hysterically. Freed made an indignant, still muffled, noise. Then, Laxus heard him rearranging himself, likely pulling himself back onto his bed. 

“It’s not funny,” Freed said in a pouty voice. Laxus took several shaky breaths before replying. 

“No… it wasn’t,” he said, still slightly shaky.

Freed laughed, “You liar!” he said playfully.

Laxus yawned loudly, “So,” he said, “What did you call me about?”

Freed clapped, “Oh yes, I forgot that I had to ask you something!” Laxus felt wary, _ What if he asks me to keep our kiss a secret? What if he doesn’t really like me and just wanted me to feel better? _He felt himself start to panic.

“Yeah?” he asked, trying to sound indifferent as always, but the worry made his voice sound small and scared, like a child who was about to get in trouble.

“Would you like to go on a walk around town, maybe stop for ice cream at Vulcan’s?”

Laxus instantly perked up, “Like,” he said excitedly, “as a date?” He tried not to sound hopeful, he really did, but somehow he couldn’t hide his emotions from Freed, no matter how hard he tried. _ Maybe that’s a good thing. _

“Yeah,” Freed said, sounding calm and collected as always, “Is that okay?”

“Of course!” Laxus practically yelled, “When?”

“Today? You can pick me up in an hour?”

“Can I pick you up sooner?” Laxus asked, assuming that Freed had already gotten ready since he always planned ahead before acting.

“You can pick me up whenever you’d like.”


	16. Evergreen and Freed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evergreen is shocked and Freed gets a date.

Evergreen was just about willing to go to prison for murder.

_ It can’t be that bad, _ she thought, _ plus, it would be worth it for me to be able to ACTUALLY STRANGLE BICKSLOW! _

She had taken him to Aquarius Cafe because she had called Freed earlier, around 7, and he had said that he and Laxus were going to go out, so neither of them were available. She had become desperate to tell someone, anyone, about Lisanna's siblings. So, she invited Bickslow to the cafe, and he had agreed. 

Big mistake. Evergreen had somehow forgotten that Bickslow was a clueless idiot who liked to get on her nerves.

As soon as they sat down, Evergreen had spotted Mira and Elfman at the cafe counter. Mira was talking to Aquarius, who actually had a smile on her face, which was something that Evergreen had never seen before. Evergreen got Bickslow’s attention and inconspicuously pointed to them and told him who they were.

“_ Lisanna's _siblings?” he had asked incredulously, “Really?”

She had just rolled her eyes and resumed watching them, especially Elfman. Evergreen heard a faint voice in the background, but she ignored it.

Then, she had felt a hand on her shoulder. When she whirled around, she saw Bickslow smiling smugly. _ Oh no, _she had thought, already regretting bringing him. 

“You have a crush on that guy, don’t you?” he asked mischievously.

“What?! No!” she had replied.

He went on and on about the crush until Evergreen was practically fuming. That was when she started considering murder. 

As she bitterly recalled the events of the morning, she heard Bickslow repeatedly call her name. 

“Evergreen?” he called, “Did you hear me?”

She snapped out of it. “What?”

“I said, isn’t that Loke’s precious car?”

She rolled her eyes, “Yeah,” she said sassily, “he usually drives that piece of scrap metal everywhere.” She didn’t understand why Bickslow was making such a big deal out of Loke’s car, that garbage vehicle wasn’t anything new.

Bickslow rolled his eyes, “He drives it everywhere except on dates. Remember? When he goes on dates he takes public transportation because he doesn’t want the girl to see his car and mess around with the stuff in there.”

Evergreen was still confused, “Yeah, I remember. I thought that it was a stupid reason since no girl in her right mind would want to be anywhere near his crap. And?”

“I agree with you, but there’s a girl in the passenger’s seat of his car.”

“What?!” she screeched. Then, she leaned forward in her seat. “Oh. My. God! You’re right! Who is it?”

Bickslow squinted and leaned forward as well. “I can’t tell!”

Then, Loke and the mystery girl got out of the car.

“Hold on,” Bickslow said, “Is that the new girl? What’s her name?”

Evergreen’s eyes widened “_ Lucy?!"_

* * *

Freed was brushing his hair in front of his mirror when he heard someone knock at the door. It wasn’t really a knock, it was more like someone was pounding on his door. He only knew one person who knocked like that.

_ Laxus _

Freed started getting more and more excited. He was finally going on a date with Laxus. He never thought that he would ever see that day.

He finished pulling his hair back in a sleek high ponytail. Then he put away his brush and headed toward the door. When he was about ten seconds away from the door, it opened.

He found himself face to face with a surprised looking Laxus. Laxus looked down sheepishly.

“Sorry,” Laxus mumbled, “I got impatient.” He seemed embarrassed.

Freed laughed. “Sorry to keep you waiting!” he said, amused. Then, he stood on his tiptoes and brushed Laxus’s cheek with his lips before he lost the courage. Laxus’s entire face instantly went bright red.

“S-So, uhh,” Laxus started.

Freed smirked. “Let’s go, shall we?” Laxus nodded mutely. Freed looped his arm in Laxus’s and literally pulled him out of his apartment. 

Freed made his way, still pulling Laxus, to Laxus's car. Freed stood let go of Laxus and stood at the passenger’s door. He looked expectantly at Laxus. The taller man just stood there, confused. “What?”

“Laxus sweetheart, you forgot to unlock the door.”

Laxus blushed, presumably at the pet name. _ Payback. _“Oh, sorry.” He unlocked the car. They both got into the car, Freed shutting the passenger door carefully and Laxus slamming the driver’s side door closed.

Laxus drove to the park silently, which was unusual for him. Usually, Laxus and Freed would talk on and on about anything that interested them at the moment, especially in the car. However, the excited anticipation of the boys was making them act slightly more awkward than on average. 

Freed took a deep breath to calm his nerves, which weren’t quite as obvious as Laxus’s but were still very evident to Freed. “So,” he started, trying to diffuse some tension in the car. “Did you see what Angel wore to class yesterday?”

Laxus laughed, deep and rumbling. Freed could see the tension drain from him. His shoulders relaxed and his grip on the steering wheel lessened. _ I’m glad that worked, _ Freed thought, _ otherwise I would have been seriously worried. _“What?” He asked Laxus, feigning offense.

“Of course _ you’d _notice something like that,” Laxus responded. “However, it was pretty obvious that she was, how do you put it? ‘Violating school policies put in place by our administrators’.”

Freed started giggling at Laxus’s ridiculous impression of him. “I’m not British! Also, you made me sound like a fifty-year-old scholar!”

“That’s basically what you are…”

“Laxus!” Freed exclaimed, “I am not a middle-aged professor!”

“Well,” Laxus said, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink, “You’re as smart as one.”

Freed was rendered speechless at the statement. Laxus didn’t just give out compliments every day. Nonetheless, he had complimented him twice in the past week, which was something he never did. It filled him up with something overwhelmingly warm.

“Hey Laxus,” Freed said shyly. Seeing as they were at a stop sign, Laxus turned to look at Freed, giving him his full attention. “What’s up?”

“I love you.”


	17. Romeo, Lyon, and Evergreen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Romeo admires, Lyon is dramatic, and Evergreen sees something.

Romeo sat on a deep purple couch at his still unfamiliar house, and while the couch wasn’t very pretty, the person who was sitting next to him watching a movie was. However, he didn’t feel anything toward her. She was like a sister.

He had invited Wendy over for a movie night since his father had just gotten the television to work. It had taken Romeo and his father two or three days to set up most of the furniture, but the television was another story. After four days of fiddling with it, his father had finally gotten it to work. In celebration, Romeo had asked if he could invite Wendy over. Of course, his father said yes. 

So there he was, sitting on an ugly, awkward couch, next to his first best friend he had ever made. She was ridiculously sweet and caring. He was always surprised when he remembered that she didn’t usually talk to other people. The only other person she talked to as much as Romeo was Freed. He couldn’t blame her though, Freed was incredibly helpful and kind.

Just then, something apparently funny happened on the screen and Wendy burst out into laughter. Romeo couldn’t help but watch as her eyes shined with happiness. He felt a strange thing in his stomach, like it was doing somersaults and sinking at the same time. He felt his face start to get warm. 

Romeo turned abruptly to the screen, trying to get a grip on whatever he was feeling. A few minutes of confusing pondering later, he felt a weight on his shoulder and hear soft, even sighs of breath. Romeo looked down and saw Wendy asleep, resting on his shoulder. 

At first, he was stiff and uncomfortable, sitting rigid and breathing quickly. Then Wendy shifted and sighed, nuzzling deeper into Romeo’s shoulder, so Romeo decided he’d have to relax in order for her to get some sleep. He leaned back, put his arm around Wendy’s waist, and rested his head on her own. Soon enough, his eyelids felt like they were weighted down. He eventually gave in to the lull of sleep, drifting off with Wendy in his arms.

* * *

Lyon was sick and tired of everyone thinking that being popular and hot was easy. It wasn’t, and he wanted to be recognized for all of the work he put into that reputation. If it got out that he was gay, or _ nice, _ or _ god forbid, _ that he wanted to be in that stupidly supportive group that the idiot with a short temper made for himself, his popularity and his _ life _would be ruined.

Honestly, Lyon was a hot mess and becoming less hot and more mess with every second.

Speaking of hot, the light at the end of the tunnel was the looks of that Gray Fullbuster character. He gave off the whole ‘Screw Everyone’ vibe. And with the way Gray was built, he could probably bench press Lyon without even breaking a sweat. Of course, a shiny, out of breath Gray would be ideal, especially if Lyon was the one who caused it. 

A tap on his shoulder made Lyon jump. He turned and saw Sherry, the girl who obviously had a crush on him, but since he was definitely not attracted to the opposite sex, the idea of being with her was _ revolting. _Thus, he was happy being almost friends and staying as far away from her as possible.

Right at that moment though, she was _ way _ too close for comfort. After tapping on his shoulder, Sherry hugged him from behind, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and resting her hands on his collarbone. He had to refrain from shuddering in dread when he felt her rubbing his back. _ This is what nightmares are made of. Whatever God is out there, please help! _

As if his desperate prayers were answered, Mr. Screw Everyone walked up to him. 

“Gray Fullbuster. Surprise seeing you here,” Lyon drawled, knocking Sherry to the ground in the process. She yelped indignantly and glared at Gray, which almost made Lyon laugh in her face, but he restrained himself. 

Gray didn’t acknowledge Lyon’s frankly smooth greeting, opting to instead crouch down to Sherry’s level. “Could you leave us alone for a minute?” he asked. With a huff, Sherry got up and walked away. 

Lyon sat down on the only couch of his that was empty and to his delight, so did Gray. “Nice party,” Gray awkwardly commented.

Lyon gave a small, genuine smile before catching himself and smirking instead, “Thank you.”

Gray looked like he had something on his mind and Lyon wasn’t a patient enough person to sit and wait for Gray to get his crap together. He decided to cut to the chase. “Why are you here?”

Lyon hadn’t meant for it to come out so harsh, but he didn’t have enough experience with being nice to do it naturally. Gray looked slightly put off, but just sat there and stared.

“Well?”

Gray visibly gulped, “So, I’ve been struggling a lot with my feelings lately. Specifically romantic feelings. For guys. Well, guy, it’s one guy. I don’t know for sure though. I’ve been really confused and it’s been making me really hostile, so I thought I might want to talk to you. So,” he turned to Lyon, “how long did you know you were into guys?”

Lyon blinked for a moment.

“I’m sorry, what?!”

…..

Evergreen had probably made the dumbest decision in her entire life. That’s saying something, because she definitely wasn’t known for her smart decision making. Ask Freed, he would tell you all about her inability to make and choose wise decisions. It seemed like he was always around to stop her from possibly ruining her life.

On this occasion however, Freed and Laxus were on a date when she made up her mind about going to Lyon’s party. Since Freed had gone with his boyfriend thing, he wasn’t there to tell her it was an awful idea, and possibly for him to spend twenty minutes listing every single reason the party would be catastrophic. 

Although she was having a terrible time at the party, she did manage to gather plenty of gossip to share with Bickslow when they went back to school tomorrow. Firstly, she had a suspicion the Aquarius knew more about Mira-Jane than she let on. Aquarius hated anything that breathes or used to breathe. Despite that, she had invited all three Strauss children to Lyon’s party. Which, by the way, meant that Evergreen was definitely _ not _watching Elfman and trying to gather enough confidence to talk to him. That would never happen.

The other thing she had seen was even more shocking. Gray was sitting on a couch in the corner, which was typical news for Gray. What wasn’t typical was the fact that Lyon was sitting right next to him. Especially surprising was they were both chatting and laughing with each other. They seemed to be having a great time, which is unusual for them.

Evergreen tried to recall the last time she had seen either boy genuinely happy. It had definitely been a long time. Last time Gray had been truly carefree was before his older sister, Ur, had died. She was much older than him, by over ten years, but was always supportive of him and always knew how to motivate him. She was protective of him too, to the point where she died protecting him from an oncoming bus. That had really broken him, and he’d never quite been the same since. However, seeing him with Lyon reminded her of how Gray used to be.

Lyon was a bigger puzzle, especially since Evergreen had never really talked to him before. She always felt bad for him because he never really seemed comfortable enough to be vulnerable around people. It looked like he didn’t ever let himself be open and vulnerable, even when he was by himself. It made Evergreen sad to see him so guarded like that. It made her want to chat with him and talk about problems with him. He actually seemed like he’s be a decent guy if you got to know him. The only issue was that Evergreen didn’t think that anyone had actually ever taken the time to get to know him. For some reason though, all of her friends think he’s bad just because he made fun of them a few times. Evergreen just thought that he was hiding his hurt behind the insults. It made her feel truly sorry.


	18. Loke and Natsu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loke frustrates a friend and Natsu gets knocked over.

Loke was not a morning person. In fact, he hated mornings. He especially hated Monday mornings, since they symbolised the fact that his short-lived weekend of freedom had come to an end.

As he lamented on mornings while trying to will himself to get out of bed, his phone went off with a text. Begrudgingly, he woke up enough to open up his phone. When he saw who it was, his face lit up. _ Lucy! _

She had texted him something about how she wasn’t ready to go to school again, even though it was only the second day of school. Loke wholeheartedly agreed.

He kept up a decently paced conversation with Lucy until he got into his car and texted her that he had to go. Instead of putting his phone into his bag, he decided he had to ask for help from someone first.

“Juvia?”

Loke could hear Juvia quietly sigh in frustration from behind the phone.

“Loke,” she started, sounding like she was trying to patient, “remember when I told all of our friends to come talk to me if they need advice? I didn’t mean to come ask me for advice? I didn’t mean to come talk to me for help on which of your three girlfriends to go on a date with tomorrow.”

“No, wait,” Loke said desperately, “this time it isn’t about that. Also, last night I texted all those girls and broke up with them, so it’s fine.”

Juvia sighed again, “Why all those girls swoon over you is beyond me.”

Ignoring the thinly veiled insult, Loke barreled on. “So do you remember how I told you I was having trouble committing to a relationship?”

Juvia laughed, “I do, but barely. It’s kinda hard to remember that when Freed followed it by dropping a bombshell about his sexuality.”

Loke laughed despite himself, “Was it really a bombshell though? I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if we get to school this morning and him and Laxus are making out in the hallway.”

Juvia groaned, “Ew, why’d you have to word it like that? Gross.”

“Anyways,” Loke said, steering them back on topic, “I think I found a girl I actually want to date. Like, she’s not just a pretty girl, she’s a great person and I think I’d go crazy if I lost her in any way.”

Juvia gasped, “What? That’s amazing! Who is this mystery girl? When did you tell her? Are you guys dating now?”

This time it was Loke’s turn to groan, “Ugh… That’s the problem! I don’t even know if she likes me. This is the first girl I’ve wanted to date who doesn’t practically throw herself at my feet. What if I make a fool of myself? I’m completely lost!”

Juvia, forever the blunt asexual she was know for being, simply said, “Just tell her!”

Loke sighed, but he did see the reasoning behind her advice. It would be so much easier to just ask Lucy out. Loke had done it a million times, so why was this one girl so difficult? He knew exactly why. It was just so _ easy _to hang out with her. He didn’t feel constant pressure to be the perfect ladies’ man everyone else expected him to be. Even his friends felt sort of unempathetic. It was nice to talk to someone who understood and liked him without looking at him like he was something to pity.

Juvia interrupted his lovestruck dreaming with a loud, “Hello? Lokes, are you still there?”

Loke jumped, “Yeah, yeah. I’m here. Thanks for the advice Juvia, it really helped.”

Juvia hummed satisfactorily and with a click, she hung up. Just as she did so, Loke pulled into Magnolia High’s parking lot, hopeful that he would get to see a certain hot-headed blonde before class.

* * *

Natsu was not a person who was particularly fond of cars. Or planes. Or any form of transportation that moved, which was everything. He hated moving vehicles so much that he was willing to walk for an hour to school everyday just to avoid getting sick. He didn’t know how Loke could love that stupid car of his, just the thought of getting inside that hunk of metal was enough to make Natsu queasy.

As he walked to school everyday, he liked to pass by some of his friends’ houses and would say hello if they were awake yet. Usually the closer his friends were to his house, the less awake they were. He had hoped to ask Laxus about him and Freed, but he had already left to pick up Bickslow, Evergreen, and Freed. Next on his way were Jellal and Erza, who usually were waiting by the curb for Gajeel and Levy to pick them up. Today, however, that wasn’t the case.

Today, as Natsu approached their apartment, they were nowhere to be seen. They could definitely be heard though. He heard loud, angry yelling coming from both teenagers. Hearing the things they said made Natsu’s stomach drop and his face heat up with anger. Erza’s angry yelling could be heard from a mile away, so he could tell that whatever was wrong was definitely serious.

Natsu had no choice but to climb up the four flights of stairs to the upset couple’s apartment and figure out what was wrong. He steeled himself, and got metally ready to intervene and hopefully stop the conflict. He prepared to knock on the door and…

...and got hit directly in the face by Erza swinging the door open, sweeping his feet out from under him and leaving him groaning on the ground. Natsu, reeling from the hit, heard Erza still faintly screaming at Jellal, not noticing she had almost knocked out one of her best friends. 

“I can’t believe you! Don’t try to excuse what you did! You know those people are serious trouble. Lyon and his posse can be annoying, but the _ Oracion Seis? _ They can get you _ Killed! _How could you have done something so completely stupid?”

“Erza, listen,” Natsu could hear Jellal try to say over Erza’s lecture, but it was no use.

“No Jellal, _ you listen, _ ” Natsu, still on the ground, almost shivered at how cold her tone had gotten, “I can’t associate myself with people who are reckless enough to _ knowingly _ spend time with people who have been caught doing _ highly illegal activities! _Now, get out of my apartment.” 

With that, Jellal numbly walked out of the apartment, almost stepping on Natsu as he did so. “Goodbye, Erza.”

“I don’t want to see you around me or my friends ever again, Jellal.”

Jellal just nodded and left, leaving Erza standing in the doorway sadly and Natsu sitting cross-legged on the welcome mat in front of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How exciting! From this chapter on is what I've been writing recently. I hope you enjoyed. Peace!


	19. Wendy, Aries, Gray, and Erza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wendy is stressed, Aries is in denial, Gray gets a text, and Erza gets comforted.

Wendy was confused. She had reached a point in time where that was the only word she could use to describe how she was feeling. Confused.

Being a Junior meant she was prepared and knowledgeable enough for most things, especially when those things were related to school. Romance however, did not fit that criteria. Usually, while her friends were all worried about relationships and drama, she was focused on more boring topics, such as what she had for homework, or what new show sounded fun. That changed when Romeo arrived.

As she sat in the first period of the day, she wished that her life would just go back to normal. _ If it weren’t for Romeo, I wouldn’t be so off. Maybe I should just stop talking to him. That might help. _ Wendy shook her head. _ I’d never be able to ignore Romeo, he’s too nice. Plus, when Laxus did that to poor Freed, Freed was heartbroken until they started talking again. _

That was when she was struck with a realization. _ Freed! Why haven’t I thought about that before? He has years of experience in falling in love with his best friend! I can ask him for advice! _

Wendy nodded happily to herself and then actually tuned on to what the teacher was saying, grinning from ear to ear.

* * *

Aries was happy in her relationship. She really was. Honest.

Aries was also really good at lying to herself.

Her relationship had started out on the wrong foot. Maybe that had been the beginning to the demented game of dominoes she played every time she went to school. Well, she didn’t really think her relationship had gotten off to a bad start. That’s what Loke told her.

What would Loke know? He lived on the other side of the country. So what if he was her only friend, they barely ever talked face to face without a screen in the way. He was constantly going on and on about how Karen is mean and doesn’t treat Aries right, but how could he give advice on romance? That’s beside the point though.

The point was, she and Aries were practically a perfect match. Karen gave Aries attention, and Aries made sure no guys came near Karen, or she would get mad. Really, they had a perfect romance if Karen wasn’t upset. Plus, Karen only got angry if Aries was loud, or stupid, or too close, or talked too much, or spent time with other people. As long as Karen was happy, Aries was happy.

As long as Karen was happy, Aries was safe.

* * *

Gray was in a bad mood, glowering at everyone as he walked down the hallway to class. If he could identify what was making him so upset, he might have been able to cheer up a bit. However, it was the culmination of several things happening before he had even gotten to school that were driving him up the wall with anger. First, Lyon had somehow gotten Gray’s number the night before and texted him in the morning with just a heart. That one symbol sent Gray reeling. He would have texted Juvia, but he didn’t want anyone to know about his silly, stupid crush so he was left speculating increasingly unlikely circumstances. 

He checked his phone several times that morning as he got ready, just to make sure that he wasn’t imagining this mysterious message. It had gotten to a point where whenever he closed his eyes he could see the heart burned into his eyelids.

He sat down at his desk, early because he was apparently angrily speed walking down the hallway. He figured he had time to check that the message was real one last time before class started. He opened up his phone and was surprised to see that Evergreen had texted him a few minutes ago.

**Evergreen: **are u and lyon dating now?

How was Gray supposed to answer that? He didn’t even know how Evergreen got his number. _ What is _ ** _with _ ** _ people randomly knowing my number? It’s not like I give it out to everyone. _

Then Gray remembered how often he lost his phone and how he would always leave his phone with his, frankly, untrustworthy friends who could be very opportunistic if he wasn’t careful. _ I should really set a better password… _

Remembering the text, Gray got nervous all over again. Lyon and he hadn’t explicitly said anything to each other, but Gray couldn’t be sure, especially after the heart emoji fiasco. However, he was truly lost when it came to feelings of any sort, and he felt too awkward talking to Juvia, because he thought she had a crush on him before she told everyone she was ace. _ Maybe Evergreen can help me. _

**Gray:** meet me at lunch in the lobby and we can talk

With that, the bell rang and Gray hastily put his phone into his pocket, settling in to another boring Monday morning.

* * *

Erza was sitting on her couch, sobbing loudly into the shoulder of one of her closest friends. Not one of her proudest moments. She rarely ever let anyone see her cry. The most emotion people ever saw from her was when she got angry at someone, and even then it fizzled out as quickly as it appeared. She wasn’t a very emotional person, possibly from the way she was raised. She definitely knew that she had trust issues from the way she was raised; passed around from one relative to another, no one really wanting her, and family judging her for being depressed even after her father was killed and her mother was an addict who would rather spend her money chasing her next high than taking care of her daughter. It had really made an enormous impact on how Erza viewed the world, namely on how she viewed family. Her original family was cruel and demeaning, but her new family is uplifting and supportive. That’s what was important to her, focusing on the present and future, and not worrying too much about what happened in the past.

So, what was happening in her present? She felt like the world was crumbling away from her, and someone had just kicked her feet out from under her. Luckily, she was able to grab onto an anchor. Natsu. He always seemed to be there at the right time. Sure, her simile didn’t make much sense because of her heartbroken haze, but Natsu didn’t make much sense anyway. It was so easy to tell him all of her worries, and he would just _ listen. _

“Erza?” Natsu cautiously whispered, bringing Erza out of her mind and back into the real world, She lifted her head and looked at him in the eye for the first time all morning. He looked like he had been crying too, which was odd since she didn’t recall anything happening to him to make him sad. “Why don’t I call us both in sick and we stay in and watch bad movies with popcorn?”

Erza managed a weak smile, “I’d like that.” Natsu called the school, pretending to be sick, and told them that he and Erza wouldn’t be there. Afterwards, he texted Freed and told him what had happened. 

“Why Freed? Shouldn’t you text someone who spends more time with us?”

Natsu shook his head, “I texted everyone last night that we could all get together during lunch today. If I’m not there, I know I can trust Freed to take care of any problems that might occur.”

Erza stood up, “But what if there’s some sort of problem with Lyon and his lackeys? Maybe we should go to school, just to be safe!”

Natsu walked over to Erza and put his hands on her shoulders, pulling her down so they were both sitting on the ground. “If that becomes a problem, Laxus, Gajeel, Loke, and Evergreen will be there. Don’t worry! Plus, if you went to school now you wouldn’t be able to focus, and if I left you here I wouldn’t be able to focus. This is our best option at the moment. Just relax today, we can watch some cheesy rom coms and eat junk food.”

“That actually sounds really nice,” Erza mumbled, smiling sleepily. “Maybe I can nap first.” 

“You absolutely can.”


	20. Freed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Freed gets a call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you can't tell, Freed is my favorite character to write for, so I'll sometimes do solo chapters with him. Sorry if that makes the chapter more boring, but I just love him for some reason.

Freed sat in the shade of the meeting tree and chatted idly with Laxus and Bickslow as he waited for the rest of the group to get there. Evergreen had already given him a heads up that she and Gray wouldn’t be able to meet up, since they had already made plans for lunch, so he was left with the guys who were talking about how boring math was.

“That class took forever!” Bickslow groaned, “I felt like I wouldn’t ever escape!”

Freed snickered, “Really? I felt like it didn’t even happen this morning. Like an author just glossed over the fact that school exists in order to progress the plot faster.”

Laxus and Bickslow looked at him blankly. “What?”

“Nothing, nevermind.”

Wendy and Romeo emerged from the school first, with Romeo screeching and running away from Wendy, who was holding her lunch like a weapon. Romeo ran up to them frantically.

“You’ve gotta help me! I told Wendy her lunchbox was too blue and now she wants to kill me!”

Bickslow scoffed, “What are you, eight?”

Laxus snickered and shoved Bickslow, “Don’t be mean!” he said playfully, “Is that why she looks like she’s gonna smack you with it?”

“Yeah…”

Laxus and Bickslow started giggling and being no help whatsoever, so Freed chose to help the poor terrified boy. As Wendy approached menacingly, waving her lunch at Romeo, Freed stepped in front of him, holding one of the hair ties he kept on his wrist at all times. “Hey Wendy! Would you like me to braid your hair for you?”

Wendy instantly lit up and dropped her lunch at her side. “Sure!” she said happily, and Freed got on with braiding her hair and gossiping about meaningless incidents Evergreen and/or Bickslow had told him about. 

After a few minutes, Freed was done and Gajeel and Levy had stopped by and joined the others under the tree. Wendy immediately showed off Freed’s handiwork and Romeo complimented her, making the awkward girl blush profusely. 

_ Huh,  _ Freed thought,  _ I recognize that look from somewhere. Wait a minute…  _ Freed walked over to Laxus and pecked him on the cheek, making him flush just as bright, to the point where Wendy and Laxus were sporting the same expression.

_ Adorable. _

Pantherlily ran up next, followed closely by Carla, who had a tired look on her face, and Happy, who looked like he’d just downed thirty cups of coffee. Carla sat next to Laxus and Freed. Happy sat right next to her, but leaned across her to talk to Freed. 

“Why isn’t my brother here? He’s usually the first one here, since he manages to get out of class early somehow.”

The thing about Happy was that he was terrible at anything that was related to technology. Most people can manage to figure out how to use a phone, but Happy wasn’t able to keep his phone from turning into a mess.

Freed knew for a fact that Happy has recently accidently changed his phone’s language from English to Japanese. In the process of trying to fix his phone, he managed to block every number in his phone. He truly had a gift.

That incident had slipped Freed’s mind earlier that morning when he sent out a group text saying that Erza and Natsu wouldn’t be at school. This meant that Happy had no idea where his brother was. A normal person would’ve been a little suspicious that something was wrong, but Happy was still just beaming and bouncing on his toes. That was just how he was. 

“Sorry Happy, I forgot to tell you that Natsu is at Erza’s apartment to comfort her,” Freed explained, “he walked in to her screaming at Jellal and then kicking him out, so Natsu decided to stay and help her recover from what happened.”

He turned to see Laxus and Bickslow staring at him incredulously. It took Freed a second to realize that he hadn’t told anyone  _ why  _ Natsu, Erza, and Jellal weren’t there, he had just told the group that they would be absent.

He shrugged at their shocked expressions, “It just didn’t seem that important so I didn’t mention it.”

“Not important?” Bickslow exclaimed, “I think that Erza and Jellal breaking up is classified as pretty important. They’ve been together since sophomore year! I always saw them as soulmates. What did Jellal do? Why would Erza yell at him? I don’t think I’ve ever heard her raise her voice at him.”

Laxus clamped a hand of Bickslow’s mouth, “You’re asking too many questions. Let Freed speak,” he turned to Freed, “Go ahead,”

Freed smiled graciously, as Bickslow’s yelling had gathered the attention of the entire friend group. “Okay, so all Natsu told me is that Erza and Jellal were loudly fighting and Erza kicked him out, so Natsu was staying with her for support. Frankly, I don’t approve because neither of them are sick so it’s technically skipping, but-”

“But,” Loke interjected as he, Lucy, Juvia, and Lissana walked up to the gathering, “neither of them would be able to focus on schoolwork if they were at school. Any word on where Jellal is?”

Freed shook his head. He knew that he was the one everyone trusted to keep track of drama and crushes and absences, but Jellal didn’t trust him as much. Maybe it was because he threatened Jellal when he first met him. It was out of character for Freed to be so aggressive, but Jellal was flirting with Erza while he was flirting with Angel, and Freed needed to make sure he wouldn’t make trouble. In protecting one of his friends, he pushed away a potential new one. 

Wendy stood up, “W-well… D-do we even want to talk to him?”

Everyone looked at her, shocked in multiple ways. Firstly at the fact that she was brave enough to talk in front of everyone. They were also shocked at the fact that she was considering ignoring one of their closest friends. Freed could clearly see some friends getting angry and he knew that if he didn’t step in there would be outraged yelling and arguing. 

Freed stepped in front of her, with his arm shielding her instinctively. “I think that what she means,” he explained, “is that we don’t know what caused them to fight. It could have been something that Jellal did. We don’t know right now, so we can’t automatically assume that Erza’s completely innocent either-” Freed was cut off when his phone started to ring loudly. “Sorry,” he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket, “I thought that I silenced my ph-,” he saw that the Caller ID said it was Natsu, “Actually, I have to take this.”

He walked over to a spot that was devoid of students and answered his phone. “Hello?”

He heard Natsu’s panicked breathing on the other end before Natsu started quickly ranting. “Okay, so I don’t have much time because Erza went to the bathroom, but she told me why she was screaming at Jellal, but you can’t tell anyone because this is some serious stuff we’re talking about. Like, Civil War in our friend group level stuff.”

Freed was barely keeping up with his run-on rant. “Okay, wait, slow down. What happened?”

Natsu took a deep breath, “Erza told me the reason she kicked Jellal out. He’s been spending time with Angel and Midnight and almost got arrested last night. Erza didn’t know any of this and broke up with him so he wouldn’t put her or any of us in danger. You  _ have  _ to keep this quiet until I get back. You can tell Laxus, because I know you two can’t keep secrets from each other, but that’s it. Just don’t say anything today or tomorrow. I’m gonna try to find Jellal tomorrow, so I won't be at school again.”

Freed nodded, overwhelmed, and then remembered that he was on the phone, “Okay, but you realize that eventually people will find out? I know you, and I know that you will put this off until you absolutely can’t anymore, and if you keep this a secret people could resent you. Don’t involve me when your world crumbles because you keep this big secret. Tell people.”

Natsu tried to argue, but Lucy started walking up to Freed, so he cut Natsu off with, “I’ll support you, but just know I don’t agree. Goodbye,” and he hung up on a spluttering Natsu still trying to backpedal. 

Lucy looked concerned, “What was that about?”

Freed shook his head, “Don’t worry about it, let’s get back to the group.”

“Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now I'm all caught up! The next chapter will be posted whenever I finish it, which, depending on how inspired I am, could take a bit. Thanks for reading so far.


	21. Evergeen, Laxus, and Natus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evergreen talks to Gray, Laxus learns some secrets, and Natsu learns about Jellal.

Evergreen sat impatiently staring out of the window at Vulcan’s Ice Cream Parlor. Gray told her to meet him there when they ran out of time talking during lunch. He said he would be there right after school, but it had been ten minutes and he still hadn’t shown up. She was starting to consider leaving just as she saw Gray walking leisurely on the sidewalk with Lyon, the two of them casually having a conversation. Evergreen still found Lyon with a pleasant look on his face unnerving. It was like seeing a Disney World character without their head on. It looked completely out of place. 

That was part of the reason that Evergreen wanted to talk to Gray. Gray hadn’t talked to anyone in a nice way in a long time. 

Except for Juvia, because no matter how angry someone is, it was hard to hate her. Even Evergreen had barely anything bad to say about her. It was always comforting when she got a chance to talk to someone who didn’t care about who was dating who. It was like a breath of fresh air.

Gray also seemed to feel that effect. It was obvious that Juvia knew something about him that the rest of the group was oblivious to. Evergreen prided herself on being one of their most observant and in the loop friends. The only friends that she thought knew more than her were Juvia and Freed. Evergreen suspected something was wrong with Gray, but Freed probably knew what was wrong, and Juvia definitely knew.

She loved Freed, and she knew he loved her, but she also knew that he would never tell anyone’s secrets. Juvia doesn’t talk to her after Evergreen outed her as asexual to the entire grade. It was accidental, but Juvia refuses to talk to Evergreen and no one talks about it. Evergreen hates even thinking about that day. So she doesn’t. Which means she never apologised to Juvia. So asking Juvia about Gray was out of the question.

That left Gray himself. Her English teacher was always talking about primary sources, and finding out what was bothering Gray would be best if using the primary source, him. So she willingly sat by herself as she waited for Gray to finish his conversation with the bizarro Lyon, just so she could find out what was bothering the person that she used to be so inspired by.

She watched as Lyon and Gray said their goodbyes and headed separate ways. Evergreen could tell that Gray was searching for her through the parlor as he walked up. When he got closer they met eyes and he nodded to let her know he saw her. He walked through the doors and sat down across from her. Evergreen could almost feel the excitement left over from talking to Lyon. It made her even more curious. 

“So,” she drawled, “awfully close to Lyon, aren’t you? Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

Gray tensed up noticeably. He leaned forward, “He’s not like that,” he hissed, “Lyon doesn’t like who he spends time with. If we let him into our group, he’d be better.”

Evergreen rolled her eyes. “Do you really believe that? Or is it just the fact that you think he’s hot?”

Gray stood up quickly looking like he’d been burned, “I don’t think he’s hot! No guys are hot! The only people that I like are girls.”

Evergreen started to feel guilty. He looked genuinely upset at the fact she would insinuate that he wasn’t straight. 

Gray sat back down, “Just girls,” he said, almost like he was trying to reassure himself of that fact.

Evergreen tried and failed to hold back a smirk, “Can I tell you something?” she asked him.

He nodded hesitantly, so she continued. “Laxus said the same exact thing, usually while staring at Freed. Specifically when Freed was laughing or talking excitedly. Look at what happened with that!”

Gray sighed, “That’s different though. Freed and Laxus had been best friends for years. I’ve only just started talking to Lyon without both of our masks on. Metaphorically, I never wore a literal mask around him. I mean, that would be totally weird-”

“Stop, please. Just consider telling him. Or someone else. Besides Juvia, because she’s the only person who won’t talk to me, and I need to know everything all the time.”

Gray almost smiled at that, which Evergreen counted as a success in her book.

* * *

Laxus knew something was wrong with Freed. He had been on edge all day, and it had just gotten worse as the day went on. Every time Laxus would look at him with concern and a silent question of _ Why? _ , Freed would just shake his head and say _ Later _, then motion to whoever they were near. 

At the end of the day, Freed had Laxus drop him off last, so he first drove Evergreen to Vulcan’s Ice Cream Parlor, and then drove to Bickslow to his house. Once Bickslow closed the door behind him, Laxus looked at Freed with a questioning look.

“Why don’t we wait until we get to my apartment?”

Laxus nodded, and off they went. Freed drumming his fingers against his knee. Laxus couldn’t think of anything that could put him in such an anxious mood. He tried to think through the day. What had caused Freed’s mood to change?

“Does this have something to do with that call you got during lunch?” Laxus asked as he pulled up to Freed’s apartment. He sighed and opened the door, “Yeah, it does. Can you come inside?”

Laxus followed Freed into his apartment, and sat down when he motioned toward the couch. Freed stayed standing. “So Natsu called me during lunch to give me more information,”

Laxus stood up in outrage, “Natsu did this to you? Oh, when he gets back I’m gonna-” he stopped when Freed gently pushed him back to a sitting position on the couch. 

“He didn’t do anything,” Freed said softly, “it’s Jellal.”

Laxus felt himself start to turn red with anger. “What did he do?” he said slowly, trying not to yell. The image of Jellal hurting Freed made him want to break the man in question’s nose.

Laxus could see that Freed was starting to crumble, and Laxus scooped him up into his arms, hugging him tight as Freed sobbed into his chest. In between sobs, Freed managed to get out, “He almost got arrested. He took the fall for Angel and Midnight. I don’t know what he did, but that’s why he and Erza were fighting.”

Laxus looked at him sadly, “You shouldn’t have to keep secrets all to yourself. It’s gonna kill you! Do you have anything else that you want to get off your chest?”

Freed took another deep breath, “Gray’s questioning his sexuality and has a crush on Lyon. Lyon hates his friends and is actually jealous of us. Lisanna's siblings are in town and Evergreen has a crush on her brother and Aquarius has a crush on her sister.”

Laxus was speechless. He couldn’t believe that the quiet and polite Freed actually knew everyone’s deepest, darkest secrets. “Wait wait wait… how do you know that stuff about Lyon and Aquarius? They aren’t even our friends!”

Freed shrugged, “I’m nice to them. People will tell a nice person who is willing to listen anything. You just have to pay attention.”

Laxus smiled at Freed, “I think I might have the smartest boyfriend ever.”

Freed looked away shyly, but Laxus could see the shadow of a smile on his face. That was enough for Laxus to ask Freed, “Do you wanna get some food?”

* * *

Natsu wouldn’t let Freed’s words get to him. He couldn’t. He didn’t have time to worry about whether or not he was making the right decision by keeping secrets from his friends. He had to focus on comforting Erza and finding Jellal.

In short, Natsu was panicking.

Freed was completely wrong. Natsu had made the right decision. _ Who is Freed to say anything anyway? He keeps secrets all the time. _

Natsu had to admit the Freed did make a good point though. What if his friends stop trusting him because he kept such a big secret from them. _ Why does Freed have to be so smart all the time? _

Natsu’s inner monologue of turmoil stopped when he saw Erza sit up from her nap on the couch. He turned to face her while she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

“How’d you sleep?” he asked.

She looked at him sadly, “Not great,” she said, “I can’t stop thinking about Jellal calling me from the police station. Thank goodness Romeo’s dad, Sheriff Conbolt, was able to convince those parents to drop the charges.”

“Wait,” Natsu said, “What actually happened?”

Erza sighed, “I noticed that he had been talking to Angel and Midnight in a friendly way, “ she said, “Then I got a call last night that Jellal had smashed in some kid’s windows. I practically flew to the station, thanked Sheriff Conbolt and the kid’s parents, and then screamed at Jellal the whole way home. His only excuse was that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I made him sleep on the couch, but her charged his phone on his nightstand. This morning he got a text from someone, and I wanted to make sure there wasn’t a legal problem or something. It was early, I was tired, “ Natsu nodded to prompt her to go on. “Anyway, it was a text that said, ‘Angel here, thanks for covering for us. That’ll earn you our silence.’”

Natsu looked shocked, “That sounds like some sort of shady deal that’s happening!”

Erza nodded, “I know! I’m so mad that he didn’t say anything to me. I could’ve helped him figure things out. Instead he almost got convicted for vandalism and made a deal with the two most questionable characters in Magnolia!”

Natsu stood up and sat down next to her.

“So where is he?”

She shook her head, “I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to figure it out, huh?”

Natsu smirked, which felt unnatural to him, “Exactly what I thought.”


	22. Jellal, Gray, and Evergreen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jellal makes a mistake, Gray cuddles, and Evergreen gets called ugly.

Jellal made a mistake. He could admit that to himself as he tossed and turned on Midnight’s couch, trying to sleep without Erza by his side. He wouldn’t try to excuse what he did, actually it was what Midnight did. He regretted that he had to be put in that situation. Especially after he saw Erza’s face. The anger in her face hurt, but it was the betrayal and disappointment that kept him awake at night. He couldn’t stand the thought that he had hurt her somehow. 

Also, Midnight’s couch was just as bad as he was. Every time Jellal moved something would stab him in the back, which he would have probably thought was amusing and metaphorical if he wasn’t the one in the situation. Since he was, he felt almost on the verge of tears. He had been so stupid, but he needed to keep Midnight and Angel from blackmailing him. 

*****

_ He just so happened to be passing by Hibiki’s house when he saw Sheriff Conbolt talking to the three boys that lived there. Eve was visibly upset and Hibiki and Ren looked angry. Jellal walked up to the four of them, concerned. _

_ “Hey guys, Sheriff Conbolt,” Jellal nodded at the man, who nodded back in greeting, “What happened here?” _

_ “The house next to our’s got rocks thrown in through the windows. Glass is everywhere, it’ll take a while for them to be able to get it back like normal,” Conbolt explained, “I’m asking the boys here if they saw who did it.” _

_ “I didn’t see anyone,” Hibiki said, “but I know that Angel and Midnight have been harrassing the kid that lives there for weeks. Something about a favor needing to be repaid.” _

_ Jellal’s eyes widened. He could pretend to have smashed this kid’s windows and he would get on Midnight’s good side. Then he wouldn’t have to worry about his secrets getting out. _

_ “Uhh, Sheriff Conbolt?” _

_ Conbolt turned to Jellal, an eyebrow raised in question at his sudden change of tone, “What do ya need kid? I’m kinda busy trying to get some answers here.” _

_ Jellal shifted his weight from side to side, “I know who did this,” _

_ Eve looked shocked, “Who?” _

_ “I did.” _

*****

In hindsight, Jellal should have considered the possibility that admitting to a crime would have serious consequences as well, like Erza breaking up with him or jail. Instead, he confessed to something he didn’t do and was stuck sleeping on the couch of someone who’d rather stab someone in the back than be their friend. Not a good person to be stuck with for an indeterminate amount of time. He would much rather be in an actual bed, with Erza’s loud snoring lulling him to sleep.

_ Erza, what have I done? _Erza was his first real friend when he moved to Magnolia. She stuck up for him when everyone else thought he was trouble. She brought him to the light, but then he turned around and stabbed her in the back. He was no better than Angel and Midnight. 

He sighed and turned one more time, knowing that his night would be full of the same self-loathing monologue that he had been going through all day.

* * *

Gray had to stop going to parties. Lyon dragged him along to another party, making it two days in a row that Gray partied instead of sleeping. Then again, he did hope that Lyon would get bored and just talk to Gray for a few hours. For some reason Lyon’s voice was the most relaxing thing in the world.

Instead, he had to watch Cherry flirt with Lyon for almost an hour. He was about ready to get up and leave when Lyon turned away from Cherry and pulled on gray’s arm, “Cherry,” Lyon said, “Don’t wait up.”

Gray couldn’t help but smile as Lyon pulled him from person to person. Lyon loved talking to people about as much as Gray hated it. This made for a confusing mixture of emotions, falling mainly on the positive side. The feeling of watching Lyon chat so effortlessly outweighed the feeling of crippling anxiety he got whenever a stranger even glanced in his direction. _ What is he doing to me? _

Once the boys went around and greeted everyone, with Lyon doing most of the greeting since Gray found that hiding behind the taller boy was much more interesting, they wandered around and tried to find some secluded seating where they could talk without being interrupted. After a few minutes, all they found was an armchair in the corner with no one around it.

Lyon turned to Gray, grinning, “If you ask nicely I’ll sit on your lap.”

Gray could feel a blush rising on his cheeks and neck and ducked so Lyon wouldn’t see, but was unsuccessful when Lyon staring giggling and pulling him toward the chair. Gray flopped down unceremoniously, accidently dragging Lyon down with him. Lyon squeaked in surprise, ending up with him arms bent in uncomfortable angles. 

“Sorry,” Gray grunted, embarrassed.

Lyon stood up and Gray had to stifle his disappointment. Then, with a smirk, Lyon sat himself sideways, his legs over one arm of the chair and his head resting on the other. Gray turned from pink to red and cleared his throat in an effort to form half coherent words. Lyon hummed, effectively cutting of anything that Gray had been about to say.

“I can’t tell if it’s you or the chair, but I’m very cosy. We should do this more often.”

“What?”

Lyon smirked, “Cuddle,” he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

_ This is it, _ Gray thought, _ this is how I die. _

* * *

Evergreen needed a new best friend.

“All I’m saying,” said Bickslow from over the phone, “Is that you wouldn’t be calling me at 3 am just to chat about new Magnolia residents. You obviously can’t get a certain someone out of your head,”

Evergreen fumed, “I’m not crushing on someone, that’s dumb. I can be mature and ask out who I want to ask out.”

She could practically hear his smirk through the screen, “Oh? Are you sure? Because I seem to remember differently. Like with-”

“That doesn’t matter!” Evergreen cut in quickly, “Plus, he didn’t like me anyway. In that situation I was just being smart and practical.”

Bickslow laughed, “How practical can you be? And that was _ sophomore _you, who was even dumber.”

“Wow,” Evergreen said, “Thanks for that, Bick. I’m really feeling the love.”

Bickslow laughed, “Hey, I keep it real. Even at-” he paused, presumably to check the time, “3:30. Wow. Dude, we’ve gotta sleep. We’re gonna be like zombies tomorrow!”

“You might,” Evergreen argued, “But I’ll still look as stunning as ever.”

“You’re right,” Bickslow snorted, “You won’t look any different. You always look like a zombie.”

Evergreen couldn’t help but laugh, “Oh, shut up! Go to sleep you idiot. I need my beauty sleep.”

“Yes you do, maybe it’ll help,” With that, Bickslow hung up the phone. Evergreen plopped down at her computer to read some articles, having no intention whatsoever of going to sleep anytime soon.


	23. Happy and Loke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy sees someone cry and Loke also sees someone cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy carp this took a long time. I never realized how lazy I am. Sorry, but here it finally is!

Happy loved mornings. He didn’t understand why everyone complained about them. He was happiest when he could feel the sun warming his face, even in the early hours. It helped that he drank three or four cups of coffee in the morning to get his day started. Tuesdays were especially fun, since those were the days that Carla and Pantherlily both didn’t have anything else to do and they could all go do something. Most of the time they would see a movie or eat ice cream if it was warm. Happy was happy.

As he got up that morning, his mood didn’t change, even when Natsu told him the he wouldn’t be going to school again. It also didn’t upset him when he saw it was raining and he would have to walk in the downpour. Not even Carla and Pantherlily deflecting his hugs again put a damper on his cheeriness. Nothing could ruin how he felt about today. Until he saw Freed sitting under one of the many trees on school grounds during lunch. The tree part wasn’t unusual, in fact it was very common for their friends to sit in the shade during the warm months. What was unusual was the fact that Freed was sobbing into Laxus’s chest.

Happy had never seen Freed cry like that before. It scared him to see someone so confident in such a devastating situation. Happy dropped his lunchbox and ran over to where they were. Laxus looked up and Happy saw that he had tears in his eyes too. Happy frowned, “Are you okay?”

If Freed heard him, he gave no indication. Laxus just shook his head.

“What happened?”

Laxus looked up, “Jellal almost got arrested and Natsu’s making Freed keep it a secret.”

Freed took some deep breaths and turned around to look at Happy. His face was red and blotchy. Tears were still running down his face and his eyes were puffy and red. He looked like he had been crying for hours, which Happy supposed he had. “I have to tell people, “ Freed explained, “because I don’t think it’s right to keep something like this from everyone. However, I predict that some of our friends will be angry that I broke Natsu’s trust.”

Happy kneeled down next to the couple, “Why are you crying though? I think you’re right, and I’m Natsu’s brother!”

Freed rubbed his eyes and sniffed, “I just got off another call with Natsu. He’s furious that I think he’s wrong. He told me that I don’t know anything and that just because I got what I wanted, I think I’m better and wiser than everyone else.”

Laxus looked appalled, “What? You didn’t tell me that part. What does he mean, ‘You got what you wanted’?” Laxus asked worriedly.

Freed let his head fall back on Laxus’s shoulder. “I think he meant that I got you,” he said. Happy couldn’t help but feel like he was witnessing something precious. Like if he moved a muscle or so much as make a noise the peacefulness of the new couple would be shattered to pieces. 

Happy wanted to laugh at himself. He was being too serious. Freed was sad and he was over there acting like if he made one wrong move the whole universe would explode. Still, the moments between the two were sometimes unbearably adorable. It almost made Happy jealous of the two. Even before Laxus accidentally confessed his feelings, before Freed confronted him, back when they were just friends, Happy had noticed that sometimes they would just be in their own pocket in the universe. It was like everyone who was yelling, laughing, or running around them faded away into white noise, and they would sit peacefully chatting. 

It made Happy’s heart warm whenever they would steal glances at each other. It made him so sad to see Freed’s fake smiles and shiny eyes when Laxus would introduce a new girlfriend to their friend group. Happy had literally leaped for joy when he heard they had finally gotten their act together and started dating.

Happy watched the boys comfort each other while Freed filled Laxus in on the conversation he had with Natsu. As curious as Happy was about their argument, he figured he should give Laxus and Freed some time to sort things out on their own. _ I can just ask Evergreen tomorrow, _he figured. He slowly stood up and walked away from them with a typical smile on his face, but this time he could tell it was softer, fainter, but just a real.

* * *

Loke had a plan. It was a very smart plan. At least, that’s what he thought. Juvia disagreed, but Loke had decided to carry on with his plan nonetheless. 

His master plan was this: Take Lucy to Magnolia’s nicest park. Sit her down on one of the secluded benches. Make her laugh and realize what an awesome person he was. Ask her to be his girlfriend. Live happily ever after.

Really, he didn’t see what Juvia was talking about. It was foolproof. It worked like a charm anytime he wanted one of the many girls he thought would help him blend in to date him. Of course, the end of his plans with them was just to break it off in a couple months so he didn’t have to actually put that much effort into dating them, but one minor tweak to his plan wouldn’t change the overall effect.

He had already picked out his most stylish yet casual look due to a grumpy and tired Evergreen helping him at five in the morning, and he was outside her house checking to make sure his hair was a tasteful mess. He was confident that by the end of the day, he would have her as his soulmate. 

Unfortunately, school tended to get in the way of a lot of Loke’s brilliant ideas, so he would have to wait until after school to put the main part of his plan in action. He _ had _promised to drive her to school today though, so he would ask her to come with him to the park on the car ride there, since she would be so impressed with his beauty of a car that she would have to say yes.

He took a deep breath. Juvia was kind of mad at him for not taking her advice of just telling Lucy, so he had to brave the unknown on his own. _ It’s no big deal, _ he thought, _ I’ve had loads of girlfriends before, what’s asking just one more? _

Then again, he hadn’t ever felt so nervous in his life. As he waited for Lucy to finish eating breakfast, as her text had told him to, he started psyching himself up in all the wrong ways. He couldn’t believe it. He was Loke, the lady-killer. How could he be nervous because of a simple car ride.

He was startled by the slam of the car door, an instinctual, “Careful!” tumbled out of his mouth recklessly before he even looked up from his phone. He winced as he saw her glaring at him, “Sorry…”

Lucy laughed, “You know I’m careful! You’d think with all the care you put in your car that you would be less worried about the door slamming and the car disintegrating.”

Loke rolled his eyes, “Whatever, you’re just jealous.”

She snorted, “You tell yourself that.”

Loke shifted the car into drive and back out of Lucy’s driveway very carefully so he didn’t brush up against any of the numerous shrubs that adorned the sides of the cement. He started whistling to give the appearance that he was completely casual. Then he turned, “So, I really think you’re great,” he started.

“Uh huh,” said Lucy, urging him to go on after a couple seconds of silence.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date with me?” he blurted out, completely ignoring the fact that he was supposed to be cool and chill and nonchalant about asking.

She looked at him with a stunned look on her face. He felt his palms start to sweat as he anxiously awaited her answer. She just continued staring at him, so he figured she hadn’t heard him. He cleared his throat, and Lucy turned to him with soft eyes and Loke was hopeful that that meant she was willing to go with him. After so much dating around, so much pretending, all the planning and flirting and hiding, he would finally free himself from the vicious cycle he stuck himself in.

He braced himself to be hugged or kissed, since those were the typical reaction of a girl who’d just been asked out by Loke. However, Lucy looked like she was about to cry. She also looked frozen to the spot, so he motioned for her to continue as he pulled over to have the conversation of feelings.

Lucy turned to the door and unlocked it. She turned back to Loke and this time there really were tears, slowly making their way down her face. She looked broken, and it scared Loke to see that he did that.

“Lucy,” he asked cautiously, not really wanting to know the answer, “Do you want to date me?”

She took a deep breath and set her jaw, “No, I don’t.” she said, with an unanticipated anger in her voice. She opened the door and ran down the sidewalk. Loke looked back and saw Natsu, who was walking down the sidewalk in the opposite direction of the school, turn around and wrap his arms around a sobbing Lucy. _ Oh, _ Loke thought, _ I see how it is then. _

He pulled away and toward school so he wouldn’t be late, fuming and feeling betrayed.


	24. Quick Update

Just a quick disclaimer that in about 2 weeks I'm going to start rewriting the first half of the story or so. I will post one more chapter and then update chapters as they're rewritten. I'm hoping that doing this will make me more motivated to continue and improve this story. Expect a new chapter at the end of the week! Thank you for your patience.


	25. Lucy and Evergreen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and Evergreen both learn about Jellal.

Lucy had made the decision to avoid Loke. It was this decision that led her to spending the whole day with Natsu like a parasite. This also meant that she forced Natsu to come to school with her. Every time Loke had tried to talk to her, she turned away to talk to Natsu instead.

She also noticed that Natsu seemed less excited, there was no meeting at lunch, and he offered to walk her home instead of asking her to hang out with the group.

As they walked home, Lucy let her curiosity get the best of her. She stopped and turned to face Natsu, causing them to almost collide. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Natsu just looked at her with confusion and what looked like concern for her sanity. “You’ve been acting weird all day, what’s wrong?”

Natsu sighed, “I forgot about your creepy mind reading powers, Loony.” He laughed at the murderous look she gave him. He sighed and looked down. Lucy started to feel more concerned than before she asked.  _ Maybe I should’ve just left him to work things out on his own.  _

“Well, this really all started when Jellal almost got arrested…”

Lucy walked next to him with her mouth open once he finished his explanation. She could definitely see why he was so upset. By the time he stopped talking, they were at her door. She stared at him in shock. “And you’ve been keeping all of this to yourself?”

“Well, not exactly,” Natsu explained, “Erza knows a little about the situation. I told Freed everything, but we’re not really getting along at the moment.”

“What do you mean by  _ that?” _

“I mean, Freed doesn’t approve of how I’m handling the rest of the group. He thinks it’s dishonest to keep something this serious from them.”

Lucy thought for a moment before she answered. “Well, I think they should eventually know, but everything is so uncertain right now that telling them would only cause more fighting between you.”

“You mean us?”

“Yes, it will only cause more fighting between  _ us _ .”

"Yeah. That's what I'm afraid of. I don't want to think that our friends are immature enough to make it a huge deal, but I don't want to risk it. Freed thinks that I'm being selfish by keeping this secret to myself."

Lucy had no idea what to say to that. Although she thought it was a good idea to hold off on telling the others about Jellal, she could see where Freed was coming from. It was hard when two people that she respected so much were in a disagreement. She was planning on talking to Freed later to get both sides of the story. Maybe she would ask for Erza's number so she could make sure she was okay. The last thing she wanted was to play a game of rumor telephone.

"He called you selfish?"

Natsu nodded, looking guilty. Lucy was suspicious.

"And how did you respond?"

Natsu hesitated, "Well…"

"Natsu."

"I may have said that he wasn't any smarter than anyone else just because he got everything he wanted."

"Natsu! Why would you say that?"

Natsu sighed, "I let my temper get the best of me."

"That's for sure. You're gonna have to apologize to him."

"Then you have to tell me what happened between you and Loke that's making you avoid him like the plague."

Lucy glared at him. He glared back. Lucy rolled her eyes, "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

For the time being though, she was content to walk and chat with Natsu, distracting herself from her own worries.

* * *

Evergreen loved getting calls from Happy. He was a sweet kid and she liked feeling like a mentor toward him. Sometimes, their calls would have no direction. Other times, Happy would call with specific questions or news for Evergreen. Usually it was the latter.

So, when she looked down at her ringing phone and saw the caller ID was Happy, she prepared for a long conversation. She was right to do so.

"What happened to Jellal?" Happy's chipper voice came through the speaker.

"Excuse me?"

"How did Jellal get arrested?"

Evergreen was taken aback. That was the first she’d heard of anything like that. She was partly worried for Jellal and also partly upset that she hadn’t heard anything about the situation until Happy told her.

“He was arrested?”

“Yeah. You didn’t hear? Ezra told Natsu, who told Freed, who told Laxus but I overheard them. But Freed wasn’t supposed to tell anybody but Laxus. Which I now realize is why you didn’t hear about this until now.”

The only thing Evergreen was able to glean off of Happy’s tangential rambling was that if she wanted more information, she would have to ask Erza for more information. Which would be a problem, since she and Erza weren’t exactly best friends. She would have to find another way.

“Hey, Happy?”

“Yeah?” Evergreen could hear the grin on his face.

"How would you like to make a trip to Erza's apartment after school tomorrow?"

"Uh," Happy said, "I don't think I'd like that very much. Erza scares me when she's in a  _ good  _ mood."

Evergreen huffed and crossed her arms. "Well, I don't want to go by myself!"

Happy sighed, "Evergreen, I really don't wanna go to Erza's apartment! There has to be another way."

Evergreen thought for a minute. "Wait," she said, "what if we just ask Jellal?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Like I said before, this is gonna be the last chapter for a while, but keep an eye out for updated versions of old chapters if you'd like.


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